What a great weekend I had! I hope you all did too. What made my weekend so great? Almost too much to mention. However, the greatest thing about my weekend was a visit from one of my nephews.
He arrived Friday evening and I have to say, he arrived to probably one of the most deflated couples he had seen in a long time. I was worn pretty thin from my week at work and my wife was beaten down from her week at school. In addition, we had a sick kid in the house that was needing a little attention as well.
After the usual greetings, we decided to go grab a bite of late dinner and try to get caught up with all that was going on in our nephews life. We ducked into a local pub and tiredly slid into a booth. After yawning a few times and making lame attempts at conversation, my wife and I sat staring blindly at the menu. My nephew grabbed all the menus and said that he needed our attention. In his usual "take command" way, he pointed out that since he walked through our front door, we had complained about our work week, pointed out that our son had a bad cold, complained about the poor choice of restaurants, and asked him several questions about his life that included such fun topics as his divorce, his ex-wife, and his challenges at work. He then asked if he could expect the whole weekend to be such an uplifting experience.
My wife hesitated for a few seconds and then just busted out into laughter. My nephew was so right. We were wasting a great Friday night by complaining and lamenting our lives. Once he saw that he had support, my nephew continued to push and prod us into having a great time. We finally found our feet and ended up laughing and dancing until 2am. What a great time.
As I reflected on the weekend last night, it dawned on me what a great lesson we learned Friday night with my nephew. He was a great motivator for us. He reminded us to live in the moment and to only work the problems until you have done your best. At that point, let it go. I woke up this morning with a new found interest in making the most of the day. Not wanting to worry or lament. Just wanting to to have a good time doing what I do.
If you know of a motivator in your life, take the time to connect. It will do all the good in the world!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Remembering Not to Settle
You are out there every day of the week giving it your best. You are dedicated and motivated and you continue to strive for the everything you dream of. You make progress daily and continually gain ground. Then you get smacked in the face with a set back.
Challenges take many forms but no matter which form they take, they often have a similar toll on your spirit. They sap a little bit of energy. If you are a little worn out, they can sap massive amounts of energy. They can leave you drained and asking yourself if you have what it takes.
You are a seasoned professional though. You have proven that you are tough. So, you quietly tell yourself that you will not quit, but is that enough? Are you really telling yourself that you will keep trying, but not trying as hard?
Times like these is when you cant tell yourself that good is good enough. If your set back is a big one and far reaching, it will be easy to look at all you have accomplished in the past and call it good enough. "Hey, I'm not in President's Club, but I had a good year". To some, that may sound like a great, positive attitude. Only if it is at the end of a year where you gave it all you had and came up a little short. If you find yourself thinking that kind of thought after a set back, you need to check yourself.
As I have said before, "be happy with everything you have, but don't be happy with all the things you don't have." After a tough work situation hits you, it is more important than ever to re-focus on your goals. Do not settle for "good" when your real dream is greatness.
Challenges take many forms but no matter which form they take, they often have a similar toll on your spirit. They sap a little bit of energy. If you are a little worn out, they can sap massive amounts of energy. They can leave you drained and asking yourself if you have what it takes.
You are a seasoned professional though. You have proven that you are tough. So, you quietly tell yourself that you will not quit, but is that enough? Are you really telling yourself that you will keep trying, but not trying as hard?
Times like these is when you cant tell yourself that good is good enough. If your set back is a big one and far reaching, it will be easy to look at all you have accomplished in the past and call it good enough. "Hey, I'm not in President's Club, but I had a good year". To some, that may sound like a great, positive attitude. Only if it is at the end of a year where you gave it all you had and came up a little short. If you find yourself thinking that kind of thought after a set back, you need to check yourself.
As I have said before, "be happy with everything you have, but don't be happy with all the things you don't have." After a tough work situation hits you, it is more important than ever to re-focus on your goals. Do not settle for "good" when your real dream is greatness.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Hey! Whats With the Long Face?
Im going to keep it brief today folks. Brief but worth the time and worth the read.
This weekend I was visiting family and had the pleasure of engaging in a great conversation about business ethics with my sister-in-law and her main squeeze. As controlers and auditors, they are often faced with wrestling with business ethics issues. They are often put in the position of informing executives that somebody in the organization is on the take or is engaging in less than exemplary behaviour. Listening to their stories got me thinking about ethics issues in my own business. As I shared my own stories with them, I realized that I was getting really upset.
It dawned on me that violations of ethics really got under my skin. As I thought about the conversation later in the day, I was impressed with how much it really means to me to be ethical and to work with others that are ethical as well.
In many ways, these ethics issues are one of the main factors in problems with job satisfaction. When your values are different from your customers or co-workers, it creates problems of community and commonality. It can be one of the major factors in "burn-out".
When you cant live your values at work, you will become very unhappy, very quickly.
Take the time to review your ethics and value structure and locate areas at work that force you to violate or walk the line. If it is a relationship with a customer, take the time to redefine it. If you have problems with the business ethics of a co-worker, find a way to suggest a better way of doing things. Im not suggesting that you blow the whistle or make accusations. Just begin to lead by example and be willing to bring up ethics issues at group meetings.
When others realize that you hold a higher standard, they will most often try to live up to your expectations and make changes for the better.
This weekend I was visiting family and had the pleasure of engaging in a great conversation about business ethics with my sister-in-law and her main squeeze. As controlers and auditors, they are often faced with wrestling with business ethics issues. They are often put in the position of informing executives that somebody in the organization is on the take or is engaging in less than exemplary behaviour. Listening to their stories got me thinking about ethics issues in my own business. As I shared my own stories with them, I realized that I was getting really upset.
It dawned on me that violations of ethics really got under my skin. As I thought about the conversation later in the day, I was impressed with how much it really means to me to be ethical and to work with others that are ethical as well.
In many ways, these ethics issues are one of the main factors in problems with job satisfaction. When your values are different from your customers or co-workers, it creates problems of community and commonality. It can be one of the major factors in "burn-out".
When you cant live your values at work, you will become very unhappy, very quickly.
Take the time to review your ethics and value structure and locate areas at work that force you to violate or walk the line. If it is a relationship with a customer, take the time to redefine it. If you have problems with the business ethics of a co-worker, find a way to suggest a better way of doing things. Im not suggesting that you blow the whistle or make accusations. Just begin to lead by example and be willing to bring up ethics issues at group meetings.
When others realize that you hold a higher standard, they will most often try to live up to your expectations and make changes for the better.
Monday, August 24, 2009
This Isn't Going to Kill You
Facing up to a problem can be tough for anybody. As a matter of fact, facing up to any challenge in life can be tough. The old cliche' "comfort zone" is a well established and widely accepted truth of human behavior. Bottom line you? It is difficult for humans to try new behaviours. It is also difficult for many of us to face the daily challenges of our workplace. For sales professionals, facing those challenges may be the difference between the awards podium and the exit door.
Ok you get me. I hear you out there, "Jon, face the challenges? Thats the message for the day? Wow, earth shattering" The message for today is not simply face the challenges. Stick with me for a minute.
I have a good friend that enjoys adventure sports. It is a common interest for both of us. A couple of years in a row, we went to the Teton Range together and attempted to summit the Grand Teton. We were successful on the second attempt. During that climb he said something that has always stuck in my head. There was one particularly dangerous move on the climbing route. Because he was the more experienced climber, he went first. After the move I called over to him and ask how it was. He looked down at me and said, "You miss that one and your dead".
I will never forget the feeling of actually facing something that might REALLY KILL ME.
On our drive back home, I was thinking of the return to my workday and work life. There were several customers in my territory at that time that I found intimidating. It was really difficult for me to call on them. I was scared to sell to them for a variety of reasons. As I thought of the end of my trip, these customers came to my mind. At that point in dawned on me. I had faced something that might kill me, and those customers were not it.
It was a revelation for to my career. The experience of the Tetons left me more confident than ever. Calling on difficult customers was nothing compared to a 1500 foot fall from a cliff!
Thats the message today. Make those difficult calls. It wont kill you.
Ok you get me. I hear you out there, "Jon, face the challenges? Thats the message for the day? Wow, earth shattering" The message for today is not simply face the challenges. Stick with me for a minute.
I have a good friend that enjoys adventure sports. It is a common interest for both of us. A couple of years in a row, we went to the Teton Range together and attempted to summit the Grand Teton. We were successful on the second attempt. During that climb he said something that has always stuck in my head. There was one particularly dangerous move on the climbing route. Because he was the more experienced climber, he went first. After the move I called over to him and ask how it was. He looked down at me and said, "You miss that one and your dead".
I will never forget the feeling of actually facing something that might REALLY KILL ME.
On our drive back home, I was thinking of the return to my workday and work life. There were several customers in my territory at that time that I found intimidating. It was really difficult for me to call on them. I was scared to sell to them for a variety of reasons. As I thought of the end of my trip, these customers came to my mind. At that point in dawned on me. I had faced something that might kill me, and those customers were not it.
It was a revelation for to my career. The experience of the Tetons left me more confident than ever. Calling on difficult customers was nothing compared to a 1500 foot fall from a cliff!
Thats the message today. Make those difficult calls. It wont kill you.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Are We Losing Touch?
When I was a kid, I played football. Down in Corpus Christi, Texas in the south side youth league. Now, when I say I "played" football, there were plenty of days when it was anything but that. It was flat out work. The coaches hustled us up and down the practice field and frankly ran our little 10 year old butts into the dirt. Youth football was serious business back then. You should have seen the stadiums. Big bleachers (always full), lighted score boards, live announcers, cheerleaders, the whole nine yards!
I want to focus on the score board today. Back then, we knew the score. Someone won and someone lost. Winners and losers. We earned bragging rights at school from the previous nights win. We experienced the thrill of winning as well as the heartbreak of losing. I remember the clock ticking down on the final game of my youth football career. That night we lost the opportunity of advancing to the play-offs. I remember standing on the field and watching the final seconds run off the clock and the score. Aggies 14, Eagles 21.
There has been a trend for many years now in youth sports to eliminate score keeping. No winners, no losers. Just contestants. Everybody gets congratulated for playing and pats on the back all around. Its nice enough. All kids get to feel good about playing the game, and they should. Sportsmanship is truly a valuable quality and should be taught at every level. Still, the concept of "no winner" really takes something away from the game.
How do kids set goals or aspire towards a higher accomplishment if there is no winner? What do they work for all week at practice? What do they dream about at night? Being a good sport? I think this creates more problems than it solves. In fact, I believe it has created a whole generation of kids that think everything they do is a big deal. They have been praised from an early age for simply stepping on the field. Nevermind their dedication to the game or preparation or hard work. If they tried, they got a trophy.
Look, sports at the youth level is not important because we need more professional athletes. I have said it a million times and I will say it again. The world does not need another linebacker. It needs strong men and women that can run our communities and contribute to a better society. So if we teach kids that the truly important thing is that they signed up to play, how will we prepare them for the rough times in life? They want praise and reward for doing everyday, simple tasks. "Hey, I woke up today. Hey, I took a bath today. Hey, I didn't lie today. Hey, I showed up for work today. Somebody give me a cookie". That is the chorus of many of today's young adults. They never had to learn the concept of working hard to WIN. Now they are behind the curve because they cant understand why nobody is impressed.
Let's not lose touch folks. There needs to be winners in this world. The truth is that not everybody is a winner. We teach our kids not to look down on others and that is truly the right thing to do. However, its OK for a kid to feel good about him or herself because they performed better than someone else. Its healthy to tell a kid that they are the fastest, strongest, smartest, or whatever applies to the situation. It helps them with perspective and motivation and the concept of reward. Let's not belittle our kids but lets set high expectations and help them along the way. Then reward them when they truly accomplish something big.
Gosh darn it. Let's bring back the scoreboards!
I want to focus on the score board today. Back then, we knew the score. Someone won and someone lost. Winners and losers. We earned bragging rights at school from the previous nights win. We experienced the thrill of winning as well as the heartbreak of losing. I remember the clock ticking down on the final game of my youth football career. That night we lost the opportunity of advancing to the play-offs. I remember standing on the field and watching the final seconds run off the clock and the score. Aggies 14, Eagles 21.
There has been a trend for many years now in youth sports to eliminate score keeping. No winners, no losers. Just contestants. Everybody gets congratulated for playing and pats on the back all around. Its nice enough. All kids get to feel good about playing the game, and they should. Sportsmanship is truly a valuable quality and should be taught at every level. Still, the concept of "no winner" really takes something away from the game.
How do kids set goals or aspire towards a higher accomplishment if there is no winner? What do they work for all week at practice? What do they dream about at night? Being a good sport? I think this creates more problems than it solves. In fact, I believe it has created a whole generation of kids that think everything they do is a big deal. They have been praised from an early age for simply stepping on the field. Nevermind their dedication to the game or preparation or hard work. If they tried, they got a trophy.
Look, sports at the youth level is not important because we need more professional athletes. I have said it a million times and I will say it again. The world does not need another linebacker. It needs strong men and women that can run our communities and contribute to a better society. So if we teach kids that the truly important thing is that they signed up to play, how will we prepare them for the rough times in life? They want praise and reward for doing everyday, simple tasks. "Hey, I woke up today. Hey, I took a bath today. Hey, I didn't lie today. Hey, I showed up for work today. Somebody give me a cookie". That is the chorus of many of today's young adults. They never had to learn the concept of working hard to WIN. Now they are behind the curve because they cant understand why nobody is impressed.
Let's not lose touch folks. There needs to be winners in this world. The truth is that not everybody is a winner. We teach our kids not to look down on others and that is truly the right thing to do. However, its OK for a kid to feel good about him or herself because they performed better than someone else. Its healthy to tell a kid that they are the fastest, strongest, smartest, or whatever applies to the situation. It helps them with perspective and motivation and the concept of reward. Let's not belittle our kids but lets set high expectations and help them along the way. Then reward them when they truly accomplish something big.
Gosh darn it. Let's bring back the scoreboards!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Antidote
We need a cure. You need a cure. I dont care who you are or what you do for a living. Maybe you are a student, maybe you are retired. Whoever you are, you need a cure. An antidote if you will. You may not have realized it in the past, but I am here to let you know.
All of us suffer from the ill effects of all of the negative press and input we get fed to us on a daily basis. We have all been exposed to this toxin for so long, that most us dont even notice it anymore. From childhood we have been progressively desensitized to the negative media. "The news" we have come to call it. That is really not accurate. It is not really the news, it is really just a collective of stories that will sell. So much more is happening in our world than what we see on the 6 o'clock "news"
You will notice that if the news is positive, it is mostly likely presented as a cute sidenote to the rest of the programs content. After the story runs, the anchor smiles and says goodnight. Hardly enough positive to counter all of the poison that we had shoved off on us for the prior 30 minutes.
This negative media had most of us conviced that the world is a terrible place. That the planet will likely self destruct anytime now. That the economy is crashing at a record pace and that we may never recover. Think about it. How often to walk away from the nightly news feeling better about your world?
This is why I say that we could all use an antidote. Whats more, is that you can choose this medication for yourself. In other words, whatever works (provided that it is not self destructive). My antidotes are action sports TV and magazines like "Success" and books that focus on self improvement. These things block the negative news feed and get me thinking about things that I find fun, challenging, or motivating.
Even when I was in a dead end job I would manage access to positive content literature. Sometimes I would go into my own employers waiting room and snag all of the magazines that had content on building your own business or strategies for building a better financial life. When I had down time, I would thumb the pages and get all sorts of encouraging information. This practice led me to investigate other careers and consider all of the possibilities that I had in front of me.
When your done with reading this blog, go out and find some positive content. It may be a book, movie or magazine. It may be a music CD or a physical activity. Make time to connect with something you enjoy on a regular basis. You will find that your mood will improve and that slowly you will begin to have a new found drive and zest for life. The world is a difficult place, no doubt. Still, it is a wonderful place as as well. Take your medicine daily and enjoy being cured.
All of us suffer from the ill effects of all of the negative press and input we get fed to us on a daily basis. We have all been exposed to this toxin for so long, that most us dont even notice it anymore. From childhood we have been progressively desensitized to the negative media. "The news" we have come to call it. That is really not accurate. It is not really the news, it is really just a collective of stories that will sell. So much more is happening in our world than what we see on the 6 o'clock "news"
You will notice that if the news is positive, it is mostly likely presented as a cute sidenote to the rest of the programs content. After the story runs, the anchor smiles and says goodnight. Hardly enough positive to counter all of the poison that we had shoved off on us for the prior 30 minutes.
This negative media had most of us conviced that the world is a terrible place. That the planet will likely self destruct anytime now. That the economy is crashing at a record pace and that we may never recover. Think about it. How often to walk away from the nightly news feeling better about your world?
This is why I say that we could all use an antidote. Whats more, is that you can choose this medication for yourself. In other words, whatever works (provided that it is not self destructive). My antidotes are action sports TV and magazines like "Success" and books that focus on self improvement. These things block the negative news feed and get me thinking about things that I find fun, challenging, or motivating.
Even when I was in a dead end job I would manage access to positive content literature. Sometimes I would go into my own employers waiting room and snag all of the magazines that had content on building your own business or strategies for building a better financial life. When I had down time, I would thumb the pages and get all sorts of encouraging information. This practice led me to investigate other careers and consider all of the possibilities that I had in front of me.
When your done with reading this blog, go out and find some positive content. It may be a book, movie or magazine. It may be a music CD or a physical activity. Make time to connect with something you enjoy on a regular basis. You will find that your mood will improve and that slowly you will begin to have a new found drive and zest for life. The world is a difficult place, no doubt. Still, it is a wonderful place as as well. Take your medicine daily and enjoy being cured.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
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