Posts Tagged ‘TGIM’

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Show Appreciation This Thanksgiving Week

Thursday, November 17th, 2016

It’s Thanksgiving week—a week where we show appreciation. And it’s a good time to remember that the people we work with are not perfect.

Our bosses? Not perfect. Our companies? Not perfect.

But, what an opportunity to appreciate the perfection within them, the wonderful things they do, and the caring they give.

Let me ask you this—if you were to sit down and ask yourself every morning, “What are three things I’m really appreciative of?” I suspect that you’ll find—if you force yourself to say something new every day—that the list would be UNLIMITED.

So today, go around to the people you appreciate, thank them for what they do. Thank your boss for the fact that you have a job. Thank your company for making sure you get a pay check every week. And be in that gracious spirit because the spirit of Thanksgiving is alive and well.

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Practice Isn’t Enough

Monday, October 6th, 2014

You’ve probably heard the old joke about the man stopping a cabbie in New York to ask for directions. “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”

“Sure,” said the cabbie. “Practice, practice, practice!”

Nice gag, but practice by itself in any field will not guarantee success. Practicing the right things in the right way will. Winners find the best of the best as their mentors and coaches and are relentless in applying and practicing the guidance they receive. The greatest artists, scientists, and athletes hook up with teachers that know more about the craft than anyone else, then they follow their advice.

The same thing applies to business. Don’t think that doing something over and over is enough to achieve mastery. Find people who’ve been there before who can tell you where to focus your attention and how to practice your skills. That’s the ticket to success that really works.

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Take responsibility

Monday, April 28th, 2014

Business management guru Patrick Lencioni knows something about dysfunctional behavior. In his classic book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni lays out the five behaviors that can bring any team to its knees.

The first is an absence of trust, which is fueled by a lack of accountability. The second is fear of conflict. Nobody confronts missed deadlines and outcomes because they don’t want conflict, and everything goes down in flames.

Third is a lack of commitment, and fourth is inattention to results.

But the fifth dysfunction is one of the worst—the avoidance of accountability. This includes ducking the responsibility to call peers on dysfunctional behavior AND refusing to hold yourself accountable for outcomes.

In a very real way, a lack of accountability leads to all four of the other Lencioni dysfunctions. It causes people to mistrust each other, to avoid conflict by “going along to get along,” to withhold commitment, and to let results slide.

It’s every person’s job to make sure that one person doesn’t blow the ship up for the rest. Realize that you are responsible for everything that goes on around you—don’t watch someone failing, then fail to step up to direct, assist, and speak up. And know your own critical drivers, and hold yourself 100 percent responsible to them no matter what.

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Show Appreciation This Thanksgiving Week

Monday, November 25th, 2013

It’s Thanksgiving week—a week where we show appreciation. And it’s a good time to remember that the people we work with are not perfect.

Our bosses? Not perfect. Our companies? Not perfect.

But, what an opportunity to appreciate the perfection within them, the wonderful things they do, and the caring they give.

Let me ask you this—if you were to sit down and ask yourself every morning, “What are three things I’m really appreciative of?” I suspect that you’ll find—if you force yourself to say something new every day—that the list would be UNLIMITED.

So today, go around to the people you appreciate, thank them for what they do. Thank your boss for the fact that you have a job. Thank your company for making sure you get a pay check every week. And be in that gracious spirit because the spirit of Thanksgiving is alive and well.

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See Opportunity in Everything

Sunday, August 25th, 2013

The very thought drives you crazy – Your neighbor buys a new shiny motorcycle, and suddenly the kids don’t think your dirt bike is quite as appealing.

You’ve spent months looking for the right home – and when you finally find it, it’s off the market.

You’re frantically running out the door, late for a meeting, only to find that you’ve left the lights on – and the car battery is dead!

It’s like you wandered into an Alanis Morissette song.

Life is all about the unforeseen experience—some good, and some bad. But who has the power to make this assessment, casually labeling and sorting life into these two simple categories, changing perception and understanding? YOU do!

So the neighbor’s new motorcycle steals your thunder? So be it. I mean, you’re riding a dirt bike, for crying out loud. Most people have nothing but a minivan. What an opportunity to reframe the way you see yourself!

Your dream home is gone…well isn’t that funny, and not too dissimilar from the neighbor’s new motorcycle – a better home exists out there. Now you have the opportunity to go and find it!

Imagine if you treated your life this way. Each hurdle. Each annoyance. Each routine task. You can do this. Many people do, every day, and it changes everything for them. Best of all, it has the power to lift you out of the cycle of self-doubt and woe-is-me that prevents you from finding your way forward.

Treat every experience as if it were the best thing that could ever happen to you, and have a Great Monday!

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