Self-Talk is the hopefully conscious affirmation of thoughts that whirl through your mind. Basically you try to catch what you think. Voicing them out is, hearing what you think. If your mind goes a hundred miles an hour it is a very effective way to catch up with your thoughts.

If you talk to yourself unconsciously then you are in trouble, because you give yourself some pretty powerful affirmations and you are not even aware of that. Try to switch your focus from others around you to yourself, because you are in need of some serious attention.

To engage in Self Talk there are two very powerful ingredients involved, that change your perspective every time you use them. They can limit you or set you free.

Words = are powerful, in Self-Talk mode as they are in communication with others. They can hurt or caress, they can cut or mend. Use them with care.

Thoughts = are very powerful also they are your creative force, if you think it will be bad, sure thing it will BE, if you think it will be good, it will BE exactly that.

It doesn’t matter if you meant what you thought, or said. It will manifest in your life. You can not unleash a power, that can illuminate a whole city for a week, and hope it will not affect your life.

Here are the two best advises I ever received.

“Be careful what you wish for, it might not please you!”

“Say only what you mean, or it comes back and bites you!”

Petra Kuhrmann transformationsforlife.com transformationsforlife.com

Now that Peter F. Drucker has passed on, I feel duty bound to share some of his insights with you, little observations, pointers and gems that simply aren’t in his books or popularly known.

I had the pleasure of studying with the management sage for two and a half years. Much of the MBA I did at the Drucker School of Management, was earned in classes with Drucker, himself.

And I had the pleasure of serving as his informal chauffeur on Saturdays, when many of our classes met.

So, we talked.

One of Drucker’s recurring refrains was to “Study Success.” The idea is simple, really.

If we want to know what customers want, observe what they’re happily paying value for elsewhere, and either imitate that, or spin something off that will deliver even greater satisfactions.

The same concept applies to self-improvement and to getting the most productivity from those we manage.

We should study who is good at what, and ask: “Why?”

Minimally, they and we should do more of that with which we excel, and if possible we should analyze what our super-stars, our “natural leaders” and trendsetters are doing to achieve their exceptional results.

Typically, however, we do the opposite.

Instead of promoting and managing strengths, we obsess over weaknesses, and miss golden opportunities to build on our successes.

For example, nearly every sales or customer service team of any size has at least one standout, a person who seems to always get better results when dealing with customers.

Instead of trying to understand their behaviors, what they do, we turn our heads to underperformers and ask, “Why aren’t they better?”

Recently, major retailer Circuit City announced it was substituting cheaper, less experienced floor personnel for its more costly veterans.

I assure you Circuit City won’t understand or distill the essences of their best reps before firing them.

Why? Because they, along with 99.999 percent of other organizations, don’t study success.

This is the true failing, because without a template, how can they sustain their achievements and pass along their secrets to successive generations of employees?

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the
best-selling author of 12 books and more than
a thousand articles. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is quoted often in prominent publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Week.
His seminars and training
programs are sponsored internationally and he
is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40
universities. Dynamic, experienced,
and lots of fun, Gary brings more than two decades
of solid management and consulting experience
to the table, along with the best academic preparation
and credentials in the speaking and training industry.
Holder of a Ph.D. from the
Annenberg School For Communication at USC,
an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management,
and a law degree from Loyola, his clients include several
Fortune 1000 companies along with successful family
owned and operated firms. Much more
than a “talking head,” Gary is a top mind that you’ll
enjoy working with and putting to use.
He can be reached at: mailto:gary@customersatisfaction.com gary@customersatisfaction.com.

We must never allow a day to pass without finding the answers to a list of important questions such as: What is going on in our industry? What new challenges are currently facing our government? Our community? Our neighborhood? What are the new breakthroughs, the new opportunities, the new tools and techniques that have recently come to light? Who are the new personalities that are influencing world and local opinion?

We must become good observers and astute evaluators of all that is going on around us. All events affect us, and what affects us leaves an imprint on what we will one day be and how we will one day live.

One of the major reasons why people are not doing well is because they keep trying to get through the day. A more worthy challenge is to try to get from the day. We must become sensitive enough to observe and ponder what is happening around us.

Be alert.

Be awake.

Let life and all of its subtle messages touch us. Often, the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden among the seemingly insignificant events of life. If we do not pay attention to these events, we can easily miss the opportunities.

So be a good observer of both life and the world around you.

To Your Success,

Jim Rohn

Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn’s Weekly E-zine.
Copyright 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved
worldwide. To subscribe to Jim Rohn’s Weekly E-zine, go to
Jim-Rohn.InspiresYOU.com Jim-Rohn.InspiresYOU.com

“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Do you ever wonder how making the right decisions plays into being a competent leader? Let’s explore the world of effective decision-making. First, great leaders often find themselves in a crisis mode (do we fight or retreat?) at grave times. The wrong judgment call can jeopardize the legacy of a leader. Therefore, one key attribute would be good decision-making skills. Kouzes and Posner, authors of the Leadership Challenge, advocate that exemplary leaders’ behaviors can be viewed by 10 commitments of leadership. Based on this assumption, I will make one theoretical leap, to say that exemplary leaders are synonymous with good leaders. Let’s now focus on two commitments: taking risks while learning from them, and setting the example with consistent shared values.

Let’s make this connection. I recently read an article that ranked the 10 worst United States presidents. The evaluators appeared to base their selections on the president’s decision-making ability during a crisis. Here’s a partial list for your viewing:

James Buchanan
Andrew Johnson
Lyndon Johnson
Woodrow Wilson
Richard Nixon

It also appears that these leaders were also judged under an ethical microscope while making those life-changing decisions. Let’s explore this observation more closely. For example, historians criticized President Buchanan for failing to avert the Civil War, while President Reagan (rated number 9) was caught in the Iran-Contra scandal. Leaders should be careful about intoxicating influences such as power. Falling for the short-term gain can create a legacy of problems. Effective leaders make the best of any decisions (good or bad). The hardest thing is accepting the consequences. Therefore, leaders should carefully consider their decisions in a moral framework to avoid the quagmire of ethical confusion. Start today!

References:

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (1995). The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Dunbar, E. (February 19, 2006). Happy (erroring) Presidents Day: Scholars Rate the 10 Worst U.S. Chiefs. The Knoxville News Sentinel, A12.

© 2006 by Daryl D. Green

Daryl D. Green has published over 100 articles in the field of decision-making (personal and organizational), leadership, and organizational behavior. Mr. Green is also the author of two acclaimed books, Awakening the Talents Within and My Cup Runneth Over. He is a columnist, lecturer, professor, and management consultant. Mr. Green has a BS in engineering and a MA in organizational management. Currently, he is a doctoral degree in strategic leadership. For more information,visit his website at darylgreen.org darylgreen.org.