1. We change our lives by changing our attitudes and perceptions.
With every awareness, every book read, every situation you encounter, be aware of the ‘aha!s’. Allow your attitude toward any subject to change. Perhaps you perceive the subject as being broader than you had imagined before. In any event, the seeds of behavior change are sown when our attitudes and perceptions change toward a given subject or process.

2. We become what we think about ourselves.
As our perceptions and attitudes change, we begin to visualize ourselves in new roles. We see ourselves as different now, in light of the new perspective. We see ourselves as a better manager of events; we see ourselves in a higher condition of control. Once our vision of ourselves in the new role is clear, we begin to gravitate in our thoughts and actions towards the “new” person we envision, which brings us to the 3rd law of behavior.

3. Our minds are naturally goal seeking.
With a clear picture of our objective, we automatically move in the direction of the change or goal — the clearer the vision of the change, the more pronounced the directed action. It is a natural, eternal law of behavior that our actions are the products of our thoughts. The aphorism “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” is true. We litterally are what we think.
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From Time Management by Richard Winward.

1. Start on Time.
   Do not reward latecomers by waiting for their arrival, and don’t repeat details already discussed to those who show up late. If tardiness is an ongoing problem, state the start times in your memos as “exactly 10:00 am” or “precisely at 10 o’clock”. Emphasize promptness.
2. Stick with Your Agenda.
   Try to resolve each issue in turn on assign the responsibility to resolve an issue outside of the meeting time, if appropriate. Let the agenda be the disciplining agent in keeping the meeting in line and on time.
3. Meet Standing Up.
   Invite your participants “not” to sit down. This technique has limited application, but it can keep a short meeting from becoming a long one.
4. End on Time.
   The exceptions to this rule occur when either the meeting can be let out early because agenda items have been satisfied, or a later “end time” is negotiated by the meeting group. Never ask the question “Is there anything else we need to discuss?” Instead, ask “Does anyone have anything to add to the next meeting’s agenda?”
5. Control Meeting Interruptions.
   Have a controlled environment for your meeting that will discourage interruptions except for real emergencies.
6. Limit Attendees.
   Most meetings do not function well if more than eight people attend. The “point of diminishing returns” enters the picture when you have more than eight. This is particularly true of decision-making meetings. Andrew Grove says, “Decision making is not a spectator sport — onlookers get in the way of what needs to be done.

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From Time Management by Richard Winward.

I’ve often heard that if you take one nugget from every workshop or seminar you attend and incorporate it into your life, you are taking advantage of the education.

Many years ago I took a worshop on time management and I got a nugget that changed how and when I show up for things. When we are chronically late, by the way, it’s a form of passive aggressive behavior and usually indicates that we are angry with or about something.

The nugget that I got that day has stopped me from being late for appointments and is so simple, it’s astounding: When you have to be somewhere, don’t focus on the time of the appointment, focus on the time you need to leave to get to the appointment in time! How easy is that?

Making that one change has made a big difference. Why not try it and see if it makes a difference in your reputation!

Working on becoming our best self requires that we become aware, which basically means getting in touch with our feelings, getting a sense of our role in the world, and beginning to get in touch with ourselves. This is in place of just reacting to events and the needs of our egos.

It can take anywhere from a day to two or three years before the we can convert and begin to trust in our awarenesses and their inklings or sensations rather than just trust the facts and the evidence, which we do when we have no clue. We say no clue because it means that we are unable to dance with what is really occurring because we’re so frightened of trusting anything except that which has been proven to be true. And unfortunately, we usually need to trust before we get the proof.

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From The Distinctionary developed by Thomas J. Leonard, Linda Talley, and Coach U, Inc. Modified by LMK.

When you show compassion for someone, you’re giving them a gift. You are, in fact, endorsing them for what they feel and what they face. Whether you’ve been there or not, whether you understand fully what they’re going through or not doesn’t matter. You’re giving them the gift of understanding, of love, of acceptance and endorsement.

Empathy, on the other hand, is more of a passive approach to caring which, while useful, doesn’t give the recipient all that much. To develop compassion for others, one must fully develop compassion for yourself, your faults, your limitations, and your failures. When you can make yourself right or make the universe right for what you’ve had to go through and even laugh and enjoy it as a memory, you can then grant others a similar level of acceptance.

Compassion is an essential skill in coaching, but one that can’t be all that experienced until one is healed. Compassion occurs when one has no need whatsoever to compare or feel threatened or influenced by the other person’s concerns.
If we see ourselves in someone else and we are afraid of what we see, it’s difficult to feel compassion for them.

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From The Distinctionary developed by Thomas J. Leonard, Linda Talley, and Coach U, Inc. Modified by LMK.

1. Kindness in words creates confidence.
2. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
3. Kindness in giving creates love.

From a Chinese Proverb, as offered in Lists to Live By, The 3rd Collection compiled by Alice Grav, Steve Stephens, John van Diest

Courtesy of Price Chiropractic Associates, Hamburg, PA

This mission statement is hanging on the wall at my chiropractor’s. As a client and a coach, I really love the message.

• We’ll Honor your Goals. We’re here to help, whether you want relief or wellness.
• We’ll Respect your Time and make your visits fast, efficient and effective
• We’ll Protect your Privacy by keeping your personal information confidential.
• We’ll Answer your Questions and explain our examination findings
• We’ll Offer Choices and refer to other specialists as needed.
• We’ll Encourage Participation and show you ways to get well faster.
• We’ll offer Clinical Excellence with the latest safe and nautral chiropractic care
• We’ll Offer Hope because with a revived nervous system, anything is possible.

When is a change a solution? And when is it just a change? That’s an easy one! It’s when the problem goes away.

Very often we make a change and think we’re done. However, if the change was to solve a problem and the problem is still there, then all we’ve really done is to create a new problem. Or rather, we’ve just changed the look of the old problem.

Sometimes the change costs money so we are reluctant to acknowledge it didn’t work. Depending on the amount of money, we might decide we can live with the problem. That’s fine, as long as it is a conscious choice and we truly stop thinking about the problem as a problem. That is the key: unless we stop spending energy fretting about the problem, we can’t stop at the first attempt to solve it.

Look around you. Where have your problem-solving changes made a positive difference and where have they just extended the problem? Remember, any energy not spent in creating your best life is energy wasted.

In his book “Everyday Enlightenment”, Dan Millman identifies 2 (and only 2) basics for success in business:

1. Be good at what you do.
   This is critical. Don’t just ‘do’ what you ‘do’. Keep learning and studying so that you do it better. Become a master of your craft and you will do well.
   
   
2. Be good at promoting what you do.
   For many of us, this is the part we’d like to forget about. However, it doesn’t matter how good you are if no one knows about it. And the
   converse is true as well. We all know people (possibly less qualified than others) who do quite well because they have highly developed this skill.

To go really far in life, and business, you need to develop both of these skills! These rules apply whether you work for yourself or in a corporate environment.

Check out the book on : Amazon

I often think one can tell the difference between a manager and a leader by looking at where a person’s eyes are. If they are to the ground, if their focus is on implementing something that someone else has put in place, if they are most concerned about the systems that are in place, they are a manager. If their eyes are off to the future, if they are focused on new horizons, and if the and in creating goals, they are a leader. While managers direct others to accomplish their end results, leaders inspire others to achieve those same results.

This quote by John Sculley really hits the mark for me: “Leadership is often confused with other things, specifically management. As I see it, leadership revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and has more to do with inspiring people as to direction and goals than with day-to-day implementation. One can’t lead unless one can leverage more than his own capabilities . . . You have to be capable of inspiring other people to do things without actually sitting on top of them with a checklist – that’s management, not leadership.”

In his book, John C. Maxwell outlines the 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. Download a free one-page summary of these qualities here or check out the book on Amazon