As a business owner, how often have you said to yourself: "Why didn't they do it the way I told them?" "Why do I have to tell them again?" "Why didn't they get their activities done that I told them in the meeting?" Any of these types of questions that you ask yourself should be turned around to the question, "How did I communicate to them?"
In reality, it is important to recognize that when you get a response you did not expect, it is the response that will in some way reflect how you communicated in the first place. True communications is the response you get.
Effective communications over the past year have been dealt a real blow with the exaggerated, overblown, misleading and, in many cases, media biased communications that have pervaded all our lives during the political process.
With politicians' favorability ratings in the low teens, this should be seen as the true response the public has been giving to the communications that have been invading our lives. And I would suggest this has been having a negative impact on our business, personal and community lives at a subconscious level.
This communication lesson needs to be recognized by business owners and business leaders. The lack of clear communications is a leading reason, if not the most important reason that relationships between parties develop problems.
At the first sign that responses are inconsistent with expected results, the communication that created the activity needs to be examined. And this is not easy for business owners and business leaders as they frequently fail to realize they know a lot more than the people they are communicating to and don't spend the time to fully communicate their thoughts and requirements.
The basis for effective communications at a leadership level derives from asking questions, listening and then responding.
Three questions
There are three types of communication questions:
Open-ended questions- these are questions that cannot be answered simply by "yes" or "no". They encourage the other party or parties to open up and provide information from their perspective that will allow you to more fully understand their position.
Reflective questions- these allow the other party or parties to elaborate on a statement after you repeat a particular word or phrase that the other party used.
Directive questions- these guide the other party toward a desired, specific piece of information to allow you to quickly move to the response you want. Avoid using directive questions in a manipulative manner as this can backfire by creating mistrust and turning people against the desired communication.
In considering these three types of questions, always consciously see how many closed-ended questions can be converted to open-ended questions by using Rudyard Kipling's "six honest serving men": What, Why, When, Where, Who, How.
Proactive listening
Contrary to common belief, listening is not passive, it is active. As a leading Broadway stage director once said, "Acting is reacting. It's done with the ears, not the mouth." How do you get someone's attention to allow for productive communications from you?
It's not by talking at them, by making clever remarks or by impressing others about yourself. If
you want to open up the opportunity for effective communications with and from you, ask questions about what's important to them.
The biggest mistake in communications is talking about "me", "myself", and "I". "I want you to do this", "What I want to sell is...", "These are my needs..."
Consciously turn your attention to the other person. "How can I help you?", "What are your needs?". Then listen. By showing interest in the other person you can make more friends in 20 minutes than you can in 20 weeks by showing how interesting you think you are.
Effective responses
The third element of effective communications is framed by how you respond.
As Mother Teresa once said, "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
The five most important words a business owner or leader can say are: "I am proud of you."
The four most important words are: "What is your opinion?"
The three most important words are: "If you please."
The two most important words are: "Thank you."
And the most important single word is: "You."
In today's business environment, it is critical that business owners and leaders use positive and uplifting communication to generate the responses they intend from their communication by asking questions, by proactive listening and by using effective responses.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
11 Ways to Strengthen Concentration!
Why do we sometimes have such trouble concentrating? The ability to focus is a skill – it is not innate. Here are 11 ways to strengthen concentration, even under difficult circumstances:
1. Connect emotionally to the task. Tightrope walkers and lion tamers have no trouble concentrating. That’s because their lives are at stake. But it’s easy for the mind to wander when it lacks passion for what we are doing. Of course, life’s realities often require us to focus on tasks we don’t like. In those cases, ask yourself, “What aspect of this task do I care about most deeply?”
2. Chart your energy level throughout the day. Most of us have certain times of day when we are clearheaded and energetic. Use those times for tasks that require the most concentration.
3. Remove items that regularly break your focus – family photos, magazines, and any material that is not relevant to your task; even the icon on your computer that alerts you to email...
4. Train yourself not to give in to distractions. When someone enters the room, or when a door slams, consciously keep your concentration on what is in front of you. When someone talks to you, don’t let your mind wander. Listen as if you were going to be required to repeat what is said back to the speaker.
5. Decide how long you intent to work, and what you plan to accomplish. Set strict time limits to complete subtasks. Ask your spouse of a co-worker to monitor your progress, and to apply gentle pressure when necessary.
6. Remember the big picture – but focus on the task at hand. If you keep mulling over the large, long-term consequences of your actions, your mind will shut down to keep you from becoming overwhelmed.
7. Use caffeine and sugar sparingly. True, they stimulate concentration, but their effects last only 30 to 60 minutes. The more caffeine or sugar you consume, the more you will eventually need in order to achieve the desired effects. Instead, try five minutes of light exercise, which will perk you up with no side effects.
8. Meditate. It strengthens your ability to control your thoughts. Try focusing solely on your breath going in and out. Start with five minutes per day. Build up to 20 minutes. When your mind wanders, observe the distracting thought rather than trying to force it out of your mind. After a few minutes, refocus your attention.
9. Take breaks. You should be able to concentrate on one task for about 40 minutes. Then take a five to ten minute break. Periodically shift your sitting position at your desk. This helps keep you alert by promoting circulation and sending more oxygen to your brain.
10. Ask yourself where the block is. If you are chronically unable to concentrate on a specific task, perhaps something about what you have taken on is not right for you. In that case, consider whether you are being fair to yourself by forcing yourself to continue with it.
11. Reward yourself for completing particularly difficult tasks.
samthecoach.com
1. Connect emotionally to the task. Tightrope walkers and lion tamers have no trouble concentrating. That’s because their lives are at stake. But it’s easy for the mind to wander when it lacks passion for what we are doing. Of course, life’s realities often require us to focus on tasks we don’t like. In those cases, ask yourself, “What aspect of this task do I care about most deeply?”
2. Chart your energy level throughout the day. Most of us have certain times of day when we are clearheaded and energetic. Use those times for tasks that require the most concentration.
3. Remove items that regularly break your focus – family photos, magazines, and any material that is not relevant to your task; even the icon on your computer that alerts you to email...
4. Train yourself not to give in to distractions. When someone enters the room, or when a door slams, consciously keep your concentration on what is in front of you. When someone talks to you, don’t let your mind wander. Listen as if you were going to be required to repeat what is said back to the speaker.
5. Decide how long you intent to work, and what you plan to accomplish. Set strict time limits to complete subtasks. Ask your spouse of a co-worker to monitor your progress, and to apply gentle pressure when necessary.
6. Remember the big picture – but focus on the task at hand. If you keep mulling over the large, long-term consequences of your actions, your mind will shut down to keep you from becoming overwhelmed.
7. Use caffeine and sugar sparingly. True, they stimulate concentration, but their effects last only 30 to 60 minutes. The more caffeine or sugar you consume, the more you will eventually need in order to achieve the desired effects. Instead, try five minutes of light exercise, which will perk you up with no side effects.
8. Meditate. It strengthens your ability to control your thoughts. Try focusing solely on your breath going in and out. Start with five minutes per day. Build up to 20 minutes. When your mind wanders, observe the distracting thought rather than trying to force it out of your mind. After a few minutes, refocus your attention.
9. Take breaks. You should be able to concentrate on one task for about 40 minutes. Then take a five to ten minute break. Periodically shift your sitting position at your desk. This helps keep you alert by promoting circulation and sending more oxygen to your brain.
10. Ask yourself where the block is. If you are chronically unable to concentrate on a specific task, perhaps something about what you have taken on is not right for you. In that case, consider whether you are being fair to yourself by forcing yourself to continue with it.
11. Reward yourself for completing particularly difficult tasks.
samthecoach.com
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Inspirational Quotes
"A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe."
— Wayne Dyer (An American self-help advocate, author, and lecturer)
"The 80/20 principle - that 80 percent of result flow from just 20 per cent of the causes - is the one true principle of highly effective people."
— Richard Koch (A former management consultant, entrepreneur, and writer)
"Success is not for the timid. It is for those who seek guidance, make decisions, and take decisive action."
— Jose Silva (A American parapsychologist and author)
"Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you."
— Zig Ziglar (Motivational author and speaker)
"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't."
— Unknown Author
"Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals."
— Samuel Ullman (Poet)
"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and other from a strong won't."
— Henry Ward Beecher
"Whatever you're thinking about is literally like planning a future event. When you're worrying, you are planning. When you are appreciating, you are planning…What are you planning?"
— Esther Abraham-Hicks (Best-selling author and motivational speaker)
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have."
— Anne Tyler
"The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions."
— Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The world has no sympathy with any but positive griefs; it will pity you for what you lose, but never for what you lack."
— Anne Sophie Swetchine
"Trying to change the outer is like seeing your unshaven face in the mirror and trying to shave the mirror."
— John Joe Vitale (Bestselling author and co-star of The Secret movie)
"We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we've established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile." "
— John Earl Nightingale (Motivational speaker and author)
"It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him."
— John Steinbeck
"The most fundamental form of human stupidity is forgetting what we were trying to do in the first place."
— Friedrich Nietzsche
"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."
— Jean de La Fontaine
"Every wrong attempt discarded is a step forward."
— Thomas Edison
"Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance."
— Virgil
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach."
— Aldous Huxley
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
— Vincent van Gogh (a Dutch post-Impressionist artist)
"A great mind is one that can forget or look beyond itself."
— William Hazlitt
"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
— Albert Einstein
"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
- Bertrand Russell
"In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant."
— Charles de Gaulle
"The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers."
— Deepak Chopra (Speaker and writer on spirituality and mind-body topics)
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
— Alvin Toffler (Author and futurist)
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (a German poet, playwright, novelist)
"The loudest and most influential voice you hear is your own inner voice, your self critic. It can work for you or against you, depending on the messages you allow."
— Keith Harrell (a motivational speaker, trainer, and coach)
"Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A country without a memory is a country of madmen."
— George Santayana
"When Congress makes a joke, it's a law and when they make a law, it's a joke."
— Will Rogers
"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow."
— Charlotte Bronte
"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
— George Washington Carver
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter."
— Martin Luther King Jr.
"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life."
— W. Somerset Maugham
"If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman."
— Margaret Thatcher
"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt. "
— Sylvia Plath
"A problem well put is half solved."
- John Dewey
"When all men think alike, no one thinks very much."
- Walter Lippmann
"Learning never exhausts the mind."
- Leonardo da Vinci
"To do a common thing, uncommonly well, brings success."
- Henry John Heinz (American Businessman and Manufacturer, 1844-1919)
"It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it."
- Lillian Hellman
"The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little."
- Thomas Merton
"I'm a firm believer in the long you live, the better you get."
- Bob Dylan
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
- Henry Ford
"Human can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle."
- G.K. Chesterton
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
- William Faulkner
"A primary method for gaining a mind full of peace is to practice emptying the mind."
- Napoleon Hill: Was a lecturer and author of books on achieving success
“The only sin is mediocrity.”
- Martha Graham: Choreographer
“Never think you’ve seen the last of anything.”
- Eudora Welty
“Vision without execution is hallucination.”
- Thomas Edison
“Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells.”
- Elizabeth Taylor
"Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. It's the end you're after."
- Anthony Robbins: Motivational speaker and author
"Each man [is] the architect of his own fortune."
- Appius Caecus: Early Roman political figure and road builder
"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
- William Faulkner: Was an American author
“Life is a gamble at terrible odds. If it were a bet, you would not take it.”
- Playwright Tom Stoppard
"As soon as you start to feel differently about what you already have, you will start to attract more of the good things, more of the things you can be grateful for."
-Joe Vitale: Hypnotic marketer and author
"Most people diffuse their psychic energy (attention) in hundreds of random ways. Those who flow focus their psychic energy intentionally upon the task at hand. It really boils down to knowing your goal, concentrating upon it, remaining determined, and having the self-discipline to complete what you are doing."
-Dick Sutphen: Psychic researcher, hypnotist, author
"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same."
- Carlos Castaneda: Was an anthropologist and author
"I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful."
- Warren Buffett: Investor, billionaire, and philanthropist
"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't."
- Unknown Author
"One's best success comes after their greatest disappointments."
- Henry Ward Beecher
"The most important thing for a young man is to establish credit—a reputation and character."
- John D. Rockefeller: Was an industrialist and philanthropist
"Think big and don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done. Life's too short to think small."
— Tim Ferriss: Author, entrepreneur, and public speaker
"Simple kindness to one's self and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all."
- Dr. David Hawkins: Psychiatrist, physician, spiritual teacher, lecturer
"Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work."
- Robert Orben: Is a magician and comedy writer
"By giving people the power to share, we're making the world more transparent."
- Mark Zuckerberg: Entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
-Mark Twain
"When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say."
— Abraham Lincoln: Was the 16th U.S. president
"What can you do right now to begin to turn your life around? The very first thing is to start making a list of things to be grateful for."
— Dr. Joe VItale: Motivational author and speaker
“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.”
— Albert Einstein
“Optimism can keep a fool from accepting failure.”
— Ernest Hemingway
“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.”
— John Dewey
“Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.”
— Washington Irving
"If successful people have one common trait, it's an utter lack of cynicism. The world owes them nothing. They go out and find what they need without asking for permission; they're driven, talented, and work through negatives by focusing on the positives."
— Mike Zimmerman
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”
— Martin Van Buren
“Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.”
— Calvin Coolidge
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad one to lose it.”
— Benjamin Franklin
"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark."
— Michelangelo: 15th-16th century Italian sculptor, painter, and architect
"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
— Abraham Lincoln: Was the 16th president of the United States
"If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it."
— John D. Rockefeller: Was an American industrialist and philanthropist
“The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.”
— Winston Churchill
"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind."
— Mahatma Gandhi: was a political and spiritual leader of India
"Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose."
— Lance Armstrong: 7-time winner of the Tour de France
"Life is an adventure, dare it."
— Mother Teresa: Nobel Peace Prize winner
— Wayne Dyer (An American self-help advocate, author, and lecturer)
"The 80/20 principle - that 80 percent of result flow from just 20 per cent of the causes - is the one true principle of highly effective people."
— Richard Koch (A former management consultant, entrepreneur, and writer)
"Success is not for the timid. It is for those who seek guidance, make decisions, and take decisive action."
— Jose Silva (A American parapsychologist and author)
"Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you."
— Zig Ziglar (Motivational author and speaker)
"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't."
— Unknown Author
"Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals."
— Samuel Ullman (Poet)
"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and other from a strong won't."
— Henry Ward Beecher
"Whatever you're thinking about is literally like planning a future event. When you're worrying, you are planning. When you are appreciating, you are planning…What are you planning?"
— Esther Abraham-Hicks (Best-selling author and motivational speaker)
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have."
— Anne Tyler
"The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions."
— Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The world has no sympathy with any but positive griefs; it will pity you for what you lose, but never for what you lack."
— Anne Sophie Swetchine
"Trying to change the outer is like seeing your unshaven face in the mirror and trying to shave the mirror."
— John Joe Vitale (Bestselling author and co-star of The Secret movie)
"We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we've established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile." "
— John Earl Nightingale (Motivational speaker and author)
"It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him."
— John Steinbeck
"The most fundamental form of human stupidity is forgetting what we were trying to do in the first place."
— Friedrich Nietzsche
"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."
— Jean de La Fontaine
"Every wrong attempt discarded is a step forward."
— Thomas Edison
"Every calamity is to be overcome by endurance."
— Virgil
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach."
— Aldous Huxley
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
— Vincent van Gogh (a Dutch post-Impressionist artist)
"A great mind is one that can forget or look beyond itself."
— William Hazlitt
"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
— Albert Einstein
"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
- Bertrand Russell
"In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant."
— Charles de Gaulle
"The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers."
— Deepak Chopra (Speaker and writer on spirituality and mind-body topics)
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
— Alvin Toffler (Author and futurist)
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (a German poet, playwright, novelist)
"The loudest and most influential voice you hear is your own inner voice, your self critic. It can work for you or against you, depending on the messages you allow."
— Keith Harrell (a motivational speaker, trainer, and coach)
"Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A country without a memory is a country of madmen."
— George Santayana
"When Congress makes a joke, it's a law and when they make a law, it's a joke."
— Will Rogers
"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow."
— Charlotte Bronte
"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
— George Washington Carver
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter."
— Martin Luther King Jr.
"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life."
— W. Somerset Maugham
"If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman."
— Margaret Thatcher
"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt. "
— Sylvia Plath
"A problem well put is half solved."
- John Dewey
"When all men think alike, no one thinks very much."
- Walter Lippmann
"Learning never exhausts the mind."
- Leonardo da Vinci
"To do a common thing, uncommonly well, brings success."
- Henry John Heinz (American Businessman and Manufacturer, 1844-1919)
"It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it."
- Lillian Hellman
"The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little."
- Thomas Merton
"I'm a firm believer in the long you live, the better you get."
- Bob Dylan
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
- Henry Ford
"Human can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle."
- G.K. Chesterton
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
- William Faulkner
"A primary method for gaining a mind full of peace is to practice emptying the mind."
- Napoleon Hill: Was a lecturer and author of books on achieving success
“The only sin is mediocrity.”
- Martha Graham: Choreographer
“Never think you’ve seen the last of anything.”
- Eudora Welty
“Vision without execution is hallucination.”
- Thomas Edison
“Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells.”
- Elizabeth Taylor
"Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. It's the end you're after."
- Anthony Robbins: Motivational speaker and author
"Each man [is] the architect of his own fortune."
- Appius Caecus: Early Roman political figure and road builder
"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
- William Faulkner: Was an American author
“Life is a gamble at terrible odds. If it were a bet, you would not take it.”
- Playwright Tom Stoppard
"As soon as you start to feel differently about what you already have, you will start to attract more of the good things, more of the things you can be grateful for."
-Joe Vitale: Hypnotic marketer and author
"Most people diffuse their psychic energy (attention) in hundreds of random ways. Those who flow focus their psychic energy intentionally upon the task at hand. It really boils down to knowing your goal, concentrating upon it, remaining determined, and having the self-discipline to complete what you are doing."
-Dick Sutphen: Psychic researcher, hypnotist, author
"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same."
- Carlos Castaneda: Was an anthropologist and author
"I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful."
- Warren Buffett: Investor, billionaire, and philanthropist
"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't."
- Unknown Author
"One's best success comes after their greatest disappointments."
- Henry Ward Beecher
"The most important thing for a young man is to establish credit—a reputation and character."
- John D. Rockefeller: Was an industrialist and philanthropist
"Think big and don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done. Life's too short to think small."
— Tim Ferriss: Author, entrepreneur, and public speaker
"Simple kindness to one's self and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all."
- Dr. David Hawkins: Psychiatrist, physician, spiritual teacher, lecturer
"Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work."
- Robert Orben: Is a magician and comedy writer
"By giving people the power to share, we're making the world more transparent."
- Mark Zuckerberg: Entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
-Mark Twain
"When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say."
— Abraham Lincoln: Was the 16th U.S. president
"What can you do right now to begin to turn your life around? The very first thing is to start making a list of things to be grateful for."
— Dr. Joe VItale: Motivational author and speaker
“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.”
— Albert Einstein
“Optimism can keep a fool from accepting failure.”
— Ernest Hemingway
“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.”
— John Dewey
“Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.”
— Washington Irving
"If successful people have one common trait, it's an utter lack of cynicism. The world owes them nothing. They go out and find what they need without asking for permission; they're driven, talented, and work through negatives by focusing on the positives."
— Mike Zimmerman
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”
— Martin Van Buren
“Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.”
— Calvin Coolidge
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad one to lose it.”
— Benjamin Franklin
"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark."
— Michelangelo: 15th-16th century Italian sculptor, painter, and architect
"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
— Abraham Lincoln: Was the 16th president of the United States
"If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it."
— John D. Rockefeller: Was an American industrialist and philanthropist
“The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.”
— Winston Churchill
"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind."
— Mahatma Gandhi: was a political and spiritual leader of India
"Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose."
— Lance Armstrong: 7-time winner of the Tour de France
"Life is an adventure, dare it."
— Mother Teresa: Nobel Peace Prize winner
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Break-Even Analysis
Breakeven analysis is a tool used to determine when a business will be able to cover all its expenses and begin to make a profit. For the startup business it is extremely important to know your startup costs, which provide you with the information you need to generate enough sales revenue to pay the ongoing expenses related to running your business.
A startup business owner must understand that $5,000 of product sales will not cover $5,000 in monthly overhead expenses. The cost of selling $5,000 in retail goods could easily be $3,000 at the wholesale price, so the $5,000 in sales revenue only provides $2,000 in gross profit available for overhead costs. The breakeven point is reached when revenue equals all business costs.
To calculate your breakeven point you will need to identify your fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that do not vary with sales volume, such as rent or administrative salaries. These costs have to be paid regardless of sales and are often referred to as overhead costs. Variable costs vary directly with the sales volume, such as the costs of purchasing inventory, shipping, or manufacturing a product.
Will Your Business Make Money?
Before you prepare a business plan, you should figure out if your business will break even. How can you tell if your business idea will be profitable? The honest answer is, you can't. But this uncertainty shouldn't keep you from researching the financial soundness of your idea. Preparing what's known as a "break-even analysis," as well as several other financial projections, can help you determine whether or not your business will succeed.
What a Break-Even Analysis Tells You
Your break-even analysis shows you the amount of revenue you'll need to bring in to cover your expenses before you make a dime of profit. If you can attain and surpass your break-even point - that is, if you can easily bring in more than the amount of sales revenue you'll need to meet your expenses - then your business stands a good chance of making money.
Many experienced entrepreneurs use a break-even analysis or forecast as a primary screening tool for new business ventures. They won't even write a complete business plan unless their break-even forecast shows that their projected sales revenue far exceeds their costs of doing business.
How to Prepare a Break-Even Analysis
To perform a break-even analysis, you'll have to make educated guesses about your expenses and revenues. Although you don't have a crystal ball, you should do some serious research - including an analysis of your market - to determine your projected sales volume and your anticipated expenses. Your best bet is to invest in a do-it-yourself business plan product to learn how to make reasonable revenue and cost estimates.
You'll need to make the following estimates and calculations when you prepare your break-even analysis:
Fixed costs. Fixed costs (sometimes called "overhead") don't vary much from month to month. They include rent, insurance, utilities and other set expenses. It's also a good idea to throw a little extra, say 10%, into your break-even analysis to cover miscellaneous expenses that you can't predict.
Sales revenue. This is the total dollars from sales activity that you bring into your business each month or year. To perform a valid break-even analysis, you must base your forecast on the volume of business you really expect - not on how much you need to make a good profit.
Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying the direct costs of a sale. (Direct costs are what you pay to provide your product or service.) For example, if Antoinette pays an average of $100 for goods to make dresses that she sells for an average of $300, her average gross profit is $200.
Average gross profit percentage. This percentage tells you how much of each dollar of sales income is gross profit. To calculate your average gross profit percentage, divide your average gross profit figure by the average selling price. For example, if Antoinette makes an average gross profit of $200 on dresses that she sells for an average of $300, her gross profit percentage is 66.7% ($200 divided by $300).
Calculating Your Break-Even Point
Once you've calculated the numbers above, it's easy to figure out your break-even point. Simply divide your estimated annual fixed costs by your gross profit percentage to determine the amount of sales revenue you'll need to bring in just to break even. For example, if Antoinette's fixed costs are $6,000 per month, and her expected profit margin is 66.7%, her break-even point is $9,000 in sales revenue per month ($6,000 divided by .667). In other words, Antoinette must make $9,000 each month just to pay her fixed costs and her direct (product) costs. (This number does not include any profit, or even a salary for Antoinette.)
Don't Forego a Break-Even Analysis
Although creating a break-even forecast might sound complicated, you owe it to yourself to prepare one as one of the first steps in your business planning process. As you can see, a realistically prepared break-even forecast will tell you whether your idea is a sure winner, a loser or, like most ideas, it needs modifications to make it work.
If You Can't Break Even
If your break-even point is higher than your expected revenues, you'll need to decide whether certain aspects of your plan can be changed to create an achievable break-even point. For instance, perhaps you can:
find a less expensive source of supplies
do without an employee
save rent by working out of your home, or
sell your product or service at a higher price.
If you tinker with the numbers and your break-even sales revenue still seems like an unattainable number, you may need to scrap your business idea. If that's the case, take heart in the fact that you found out before you invested your (or someone else's) money in the idea.
Further Financial Analysis
If your break-even forecast shows you'll make more revenue than you need to break even, you can consider yourself fortunate. But you still need to figure out how much profit your business will generate, and whether you'll have enough cash available to pay your bills when they are due. In short, a break-even forecast is a great screening tool, but you need a more complete analysis before you start investing real money in your venture.
The following are additional financial projections that should also be part of your business plan, to round out your business's financial picture.
A profit-and-loss forecast. This is a month-by-month projection of your business's net profit from operations.
A cash flow projection. This shows you how much actual cash you'll have, month by month, to meet your expenses.
A start-up cost estimate. This is the total of all the expenses you'll incur before your business opens.
Preparing a break-even forecast will help you decide whether it's worth drafting a business plan for your idea - but it should never take the place of a complete profit-and-loss forecast and cash flow projection.
A startup business owner must understand that $5,000 of product sales will not cover $5,000 in monthly overhead expenses. The cost of selling $5,000 in retail goods could easily be $3,000 at the wholesale price, so the $5,000 in sales revenue only provides $2,000 in gross profit available for overhead costs. The breakeven point is reached when revenue equals all business costs.
To calculate your breakeven point you will need to identify your fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that do not vary with sales volume, such as rent or administrative salaries. These costs have to be paid regardless of sales and are often referred to as overhead costs. Variable costs vary directly with the sales volume, such as the costs of purchasing inventory, shipping, or manufacturing a product.
Will Your Business Make Money?
Before you prepare a business plan, you should figure out if your business will break even. How can you tell if your business idea will be profitable? The honest answer is, you can't. But this uncertainty shouldn't keep you from researching the financial soundness of your idea. Preparing what's known as a "break-even analysis," as well as several other financial projections, can help you determine whether or not your business will succeed.
What a Break-Even Analysis Tells You
Your break-even analysis shows you the amount of revenue you'll need to bring in to cover your expenses before you make a dime of profit. If you can attain and surpass your break-even point - that is, if you can easily bring in more than the amount of sales revenue you'll need to meet your expenses - then your business stands a good chance of making money.
Many experienced entrepreneurs use a break-even analysis or forecast as a primary screening tool for new business ventures. They won't even write a complete business plan unless their break-even forecast shows that their projected sales revenue far exceeds their costs of doing business.
How to Prepare a Break-Even Analysis
To perform a break-even analysis, you'll have to make educated guesses about your expenses and revenues. Although you don't have a crystal ball, you should do some serious research - including an analysis of your market - to determine your projected sales volume and your anticipated expenses. Your best bet is to invest in a do-it-yourself business plan product to learn how to make reasonable revenue and cost estimates.
You'll need to make the following estimates and calculations when you prepare your break-even analysis:
Fixed costs. Fixed costs (sometimes called "overhead") don't vary much from month to month. They include rent, insurance, utilities and other set expenses. It's also a good idea to throw a little extra, say 10%, into your break-even analysis to cover miscellaneous expenses that you can't predict.
Sales revenue. This is the total dollars from sales activity that you bring into your business each month or year. To perform a valid break-even analysis, you must base your forecast on the volume of business you really expect - not on how much you need to make a good profit.
Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying the direct costs of a sale. (Direct costs are what you pay to provide your product or service.) For example, if Antoinette pays an average of $100 for goods to make dresses that she sells for an average of $300, her average gross profit is $200.
Average gross profit percentage. This percentage tells you how much of each dollar of sales income is gross profit. To calculate your average gross profit percentage, divide your average gross profit figure by the average selling price. For example, if Antoinette makes an average gross profit of $200 on dresses that she sells for an average of $300, her gross profit percentage is 66.7% ($200 divided by $300).
Calculating Your Break-Even Point
Once you've calculated the numbers above, it's easy to figure out your break-even point. Simply divide your estimated annual fixed costs by your gross profit percentage to determine the amount of sales revenue you'll need to bring in just to break even. For example, if Antoinette's fixed costs are $6,000 per month, and her expected profit margin is 66.7%, her break-even point is $9,000 in sales revenue per month ($6,000 divided by .667). In other words, Antoinette must make $9,000 each month just to pay her fixed costs and her direct (product) costs. (This number does not include any profit, or even a salary for Antoinette.)
Don't Forego a Break-Even Analysis
Although creating a break-even forecast might sound complicated, you owe it to yourself to prepare one as one of the first steps in your business planning process. As you can see, a realistically prepared break-even forecast will tell you whether your idea is a sure winner, a loser or, like most ideas, it needs modifications to make it work.
If You Can't Break Even
If your break-even point is higher than your expected revenues, you'll need to decide whether certain aspects of your plan can be changed to create an achievable break-even point. For instance, perhaps you can:
find a less expensive source of supplies
do without an employee
save rent by working out of your home, or
sell your product or service at a higher price.
If you tinker with the numbers and your break-even sales revenue still seems like an unattainable number, you may need to scrap your business idea. If that's the case, take heart in the fact that you found out before you invested your (or someone else's) money in the idea.
Further Financial Analysis
If your break-even forecast shows you'll make more revenue than you need to break even, you can consider yourself fortunate. But you still need to figure out how much profit your business will generate, and whether you'll have enough cash available to pay your bills when they are due. In short, a break-even forecast is a great screening tool, but you need a more complete analysis before you start investing real money in your venture.
The following are additional financial projections that should also be part of your business plan, to round out your business's financial picture.
A profit-and-loss forecast. This is a month-by-month projection of your business's net profit from operations.
A cash flow projection. This shows you how much actual cash you'll have, month by month, to meet your expenses.
A start-up cost estimate. This is the total of all the expenses you'll incur before your business opens.
Preparing a break-even forecast will help you decide whether it's worth drafting a business plan for your idea - but it should never take the place of a complete profit-and-loss forecast and cash flow projection.
Price: The Value Equation and How to Use When Selling
How do people determine value when about to pay for goods or services? If a customer objects to going ahead with a purchase and says "that's too expensive", what do they really mean?
Put another way, how do people judge what they're about to buy is going to be a good value for the money AND is there a formula for calculating this? If we knew of the components of how people judge value, then surely we can use this to overcome the price objection.
Well, YES, there is a way, if we go back and look at the Marketing Mix as it applies to customers. The 7 "P's" of marketing are: Price, Product, Promotion, Place, People, Process, Physical Evidence. Going on the principle of "what you pay for is what you get", then value could be shown to be the 6 elements of the marketing mix divided by the 7th one, Price as seen below:
Value = Product + Promotion + Place + People + Process + Physical Evidence/Price
How this can be used in a very practical sense is as follows:
Suppose a customer says "that's too much", we can find out which of the elements above the line can change rather than just lowering the price to get to their perceived value. So, can we reduce the product specification? Is the offer right, is it convenient enough for the customer? Do we need to change the person representing the company? What about aftercare? And finally, can we show we can really deliver to their expectations? Many times just going back through some, or each of these, factors will convince the prospect of the value to them and negate having to reduce your price and therefore, reduce your profits.
I've found this a great tool to use when selling and also when teaching negotiation with salespeople. It clarifies how to position what's being offered to a customer and adjust accordingly without having to reduce your price and profit in the sale as a first option.After all,a salesperson's worth is to add value to the sale and here's an equation to prove it!
samthecoach.com
Put another way, how do people judge what they're about to buy is going to be a good value for the money AND is there a formula for calculating this? If we knew of the components of how people judge value, then surely we can use this to overcome the price objection.
Well, YES, there is a way, if we go back and look at the Marketing Mix as it applies to customers. The 7 "P's" of marketing are: Price, Product, Promotion, Place, People, Process, Physical Evidence. Going on the principle of "what you pay for is what you get", then value could be shown to be the 6 elements of the marketing mix divided by the 7th one, Price as seen below:
Value = Product + Promotion + Place + People + Process + Physical Evidence/Price
How this can be used in a very practical sense is as follows:
Suppose a customer says "that's too much", we can find out which of the elements above the line can change rather than just lowering the price to get to their perceived value. So, can we reduce the product specification? Is the offer right, is it convenient enough for the customer? Do we need to change the person representing the company? What about aftercare? And finally, can we show we can really deliver to their expectations? Many times just going back through some, or each of these, factors will convince the prospect of the value to them and negate having to reduce your price and therefore, reduce your profits.
I've found this a great tool to use when selling and also when teaching negotiation with salespeople. It clarifies how to position what's being offered to a customer and adjust accordingly without having to reduce your price and profit in the sale as a first option.After all,a salesperson's worth is to add value to the sale and here's an equation to prove it!
samthecoach.com
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Team Building
It won't work unless people see the benefit of team building
It is not enough to get your group together off site and have a few icebreaker games. If you want team building to work, you have to show the members of the team that it benefits them personally.
There is very little "team" in teamwork without a lot of motivation. We live in a society that seems fascinated with individual accomplishment and almost oblivious to teams. Even in team settings like sports, we single out the All-Stars and the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of each game. That is the environment you have to overcome in order to build your group at work into a team.
Get Started Team Building
Do you think of your group as a team? They won't think of themselves as a team if you don't. Do you reward team performance, or only individual achievements? You won't have much success in team building if you don't reward team performance. Let your group know that they are a team, that you expect them to perform as a team, and that you will reward their successes as a team. That's the first step toward team building.
Remember that team building must be an everyday activity. It is not something you can just do quarterly at some off-site function.
Motivate Team Building
If you want team building to work, it's not enough to tell them that they are a team and must perform as one. You also have to show the members of the team that it benefits them personally.
Most of us are selfish individualists. We watch out, first and foremost, for ourselves and do what benefits us most. We have to be motivated to include anyone else. Fortunately, it is pretty easy for us to see the benefits of including others, so most of us do that readily. Love is a strong motivator. Parents, for instance, watch out for their children. Money is another strong motivator. It is one you can use as an employer. However, the strongest motivator available to a manager (since it is unlikely your employees will fall in love with you) is self esteem. The more the individual sees a benefit to his or her self esteem from supporting the team, the more successful your team building efforts will be.
First of all, your people have to acknowledge that they are part of a team. You can reinforce this by holding team meetings, posting team news on the bulletin board or your intranet page, and tracking team performance against team goals.
Secondly, they have to believe that the team is capable of producing more than the sum of its members. Lance Armstrong is a great bicycle racer, but he could not have won the Tour de France without the support and assistance of his team members. You may have a great customer service rep on your team, but without the cooperation of the other members of the team he or she would not be able to handle as many calls. You have to make this readily apparent to them and clearly delineate the increased rewards they can achieve through teamwork.
Reinforce Team Building Efforts
One company I know had a great customer support team. Their director challenged the team with higher and higher goals. He celebrated their successes in meeting and exceeding those team goals. He also celebrated them as individuals. The team decorated the cubicle of everyone who was having a birthday. They did community service projects together. They had fun at work. And they enjoyed beating the goals Clint set for their team. They got a significant boost in self esteem from belonging to a winning team.
Making up t-shirts, etc. with a team logo or motto can help reinforce the sense of team identity, but it's not required. You should know your team well enough to know whether or not something like that would be positive reinforcement for them.
Don't make the mistake of one Accounting Manager I knew. The motto he picked for his team and had printed on ballcaps he gave them didn't fly. He hadn't involved the team in selecting either the motto or the object on which it was printed.
By F. John Reh, About.com Guide
www.samthecoach.com
It is not enough to get your group together off site and have a few icebreaker games. If you want team building to work, you have to show the members of the team that it benefits them personally.
There is very little "team" in teamwork without a lot of motivation. We live in a society that seems fascinated with individual accomplishment and almost oblivious to teams. Even in team settings like sports, we single out the All-Stars and the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of each game. That is the environment you have to overcome in order to build your group at work into a team.
Get Started Team Building
Do you think of your group as a team? They won't think of themselves as a team if you don't. Do you reward team performance, or only individual achievements? You won't have much success in team building if you don't reward team performance. Let your group know that they are a team, that you expect them to perform as a team, and that you will reward their successes as a team. That's the first step toward team building.
Remember that team building must be an everyday activity. It is not something you can just do quarterly at some off-site function.
Motivate Team Building
If you want team building to work, it's not enough to tell them that they are a team and must perform as one. You also have to show the members of the team that it benefits them personally.
Most of us are selfish individualists. We watch out, first and foremost, for ourselves and do what benefits us most. We have to be motivated to include anyone else. Fortunately, it is pretty easy for us to see the benefits of including others, so most of us do that readily. Love is a strong motivator. Parents, for instance, watch out for their children. Money is another strong motivator. It is one you can use as an employer. However, the strongest motivator available to a manager (since it is unlikely your employees will fall in love with you) is self esteem. The more the individual sees a benefit to his or her self esteem from supporting the team, the more successful your team building efforts will be.
First of all, your people have to acknowledge that they are part of a team. You can reinforce this by holding team meetings, posting team news on the bulletin board or your intranet page, and tracking team performance against team goals.
Secondly, they have to believe that the team is capable of producing more than the sum of its members. Lance Armstrong is a great bicycle racer, but he could not have won the Tour de France without the support and assistance of his team members. You may have a great customer service rep on your team, but without the cooperation of the other members of the team he or she would not be able to handle as many calls. You have to make this readily apparent to them and clearly delineate the increased rewards they can achieve through teamwork.
Reinforce Team Building Efforts
One company I know had a great customer support team. Their director challenged the team with higher and higher goals. He celebrated their successes in meeting and exceeding those team goals. He also celebrated them as individuals. The team decorated the cubicle of everyone who was having a birthday. They did community service projects together. They had fun at work. And they enjoyed beating the goals Clint set for their team. They got a significant boost in self esteem from belonging to a winning team.
Making up t-shirts, etc. with a team logo or motto can help reinforce the sense of team identity, but it's not required. You should know your team well enough to know whether or not something like that would be positive reinforcement for them.
Don't make the mistake of one Accounting Manager I knew. The motto he picked for his team and had printed on ballcaps he gave them didn't fly. He hadn't involved the team in selecting either the motto or the object on which it was printed.
By F. John Reh, About.com Guide
www.samthecoach.com
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Why Most Goal-Setting Fails
Here are five main reasons why most people fail to reach their goals:
1. Wish List and Cross Your Fingers
You cannot simply write down a list of wants on New Year’s Day, stick it in a drawer for the rest of the year and wait around for your life to change. You need to read it, want it and ACT on it.
2. Clear as Mud
Your goals have to be crystal clear. You have to give clear instructions to your brain in order for it to see (Allowing your Reticular Activating System to see it) and ‘draw’ into your life what you need to accomplish your goals. Just like the combination on a lock or the digits in a phone number or an ATM code, if the instructions are off by only one digit, they won’t work.
3. All Talk
Proclaiming your goal is just the starting point. Now you have to actually draw a map for exactly how you are going to get there and define the resources you’ll need to arrive safely.
4. Houston We Have a Problem
You must have your own command and control system to keep on track along your journey into the unknown. Anticipate set backs and have a plan to work around it. Be the boat that works itself around obstacles and not the inflexible Train that is rigid and could be pushed off track).
5. Lack of Reinforcements
and don’t forget the support and guidance of people and resources you will need along the way. Before marching blindly into the next year, the first, and most important, activity is to take a look back at the year just finished. Take an inventory, add it all up and see how you did.
Samthecoach.com
1. Wish List and Cross Your Fingers
You cannot simply write down a list of wants on New Year’s Day, stick it in a drawer for the rest of the year and wait around for your life to change. You need to read it, want it and ACT on it.
2. Clear as Mud
Your goals have to be crystal clear. You have to give clear instructions to your brain in order for it to see (Allowing your Reticular Activating System to see it) and ‘draw’ into your life what you need to accomplish your goals. Just like the combination on a lock or the digits in a phone number or an ATM code, if the instructions are off by only one digit, they won’t work.
3. All Talk
Proclaiming your goal is just the starting point. Now you have to actually draw a map for exactly how you are going to get there and define the resources you’ll need to arrive safely.
4. Houston We Have a Problem
You must have your own command and control system to keep on track along your journey into the unknown. Anticipate set backs and have a plan to work around it. Be the boat that works itself around obstacles and not the inflexible Train that is rigid and could be pushed off track).
5. Lack of Reinforcements
and don’t forget the support and guidance of people and resources you will need along the way. Before marching blindly into the next year, the first, and most important, activity is to take a look back at the year just finished. Take an inventory, add it all up and see how you did.
Samthecoach.com
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