Choices

Your current life is culmination of past choices you’ve made. Those choices come in the form of attitude, behavior, thoughts and actions or inactions you’ve taken. They are all based on choice. There are some things that we are born into that can be argued are not choices. Regardless of your belief in that regard, there is a choice involved as to whether or not that defines and confines who you are, what you are doing and who you are being. 

Take a moment to define at least one desired outcome. Is everything you are doing oriented towards the outcome you are wanting? What can you do to focus yourself on that outcome?

If it’s a better relationship with someone, are you taking the time to listen to that person and really hear what he or she is saying? Are you willing to let go of preconceived notions about what you think they are meaning and get clarity from them? Don’t expect someone else to change, rather be willing to change the way you are approaching situations in order to alter the normal chain of events. Be open to different approaches.

If you are looking for a better job, are you updating your resume and your LinkedIn profile? Are you talking with people about what you are looking for? Are you networking? Have you defined what that better job may look like? The latter is a huge point. It is easier when you know what you are looking for and also much easier to enlist the help of others in that process.

There are so many possibilities. Each step is a choice, many of which can lead you to your ambitions at varying speeds and others, which will send you in another direction. Choose wisely and remember you always have a choice. It all starts with you.

Please feel free to contact me at www.lucindasmith.com to share your successes and experiences, or to get answers to any of your questions.

Lucinda Smith

Coach ~ Speaker

Life Transformationalist
Solutions for Living

Are You an Enlightened Leader?

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within rather than external rewards.  Think of the Olympic athlete who knows they will never reach perfection – yet continually strives to do so.  Upon achieving the gold medal – 4 years later the athlete defends their medal and tries to outdo their personal best.  This is the ultimate description of intrinsic motivation – sacrificing to achieve what one sets out to do.

Although we may not reach the level of motivation that an Olympic athlete does – the fact is that we can engage our employees to become intrinsically motivated on the job.

First, your employees have to have a sense of purpose.  How do they identify and find the greater meaning within your organization?  Oftentimes, employees will be more productive when volunteering because they buy into the tenet of what they are doing.  

As human beings – we naturally want to make things better.  If we have autonomy and freedom – we will give in our ideas and implement them freely.  The little things about our job that bother us – we want to do something about them to make our jobs easier for both ourselves and our co-workers.  Although our reasons for doing so may differ, as long as we feel safe and trusted - we all share that inherent human trait. 

However, when employees are in an environment ruled by fear, we feel endangered and we revert to an every man for himself psychology. The following are some of the reasons I have heard employees say they don’t give in ideas:

•  ”Management doesn’t care what I have to say.  They never tell me what they think of my ideas – the last time I gave in an idea, I never heard back.”  “It is just the flavor of the month.  They are just out for number one.”  Make sure you respond to all employee ideas within a given time frame and that all ideas are welcomed and encouraged, no matter how small. 


•  “My idea is too small to make an impact and I don’t want to look foolish by bringing it up.”  It is important to remember that individuals bring up ideas because they are trying to solve something and although the solution they have come up with – may not be able to be implemented, chances are someone on the team has a solution that is able to be implemented.


•  “If I give in my ideas to improve my work, then management is going to lay me off.”  This is a very real fear folks.  The real purpose behind getting employee ideas is that your business will grow through those ideas and that instead of laying off your employees that helped your business to flourish, retrain your employees and put them into positions with more decision making authority so they can continue to use their knowledge to grow your business.


• “If I give in my idea, I will have to do all the work and it is another thing added to my to-do list and I am already swamped.”  Idea implementation should not fall solely on the idea originator but rather should be a team effort.

Creating an environment where ideas flourish is what good and enlightened leadership is all about!  So I ask again – are you an enlightened leader?

Idea Share Tip of the Month!

Employees will give in an average of 3 ideas without feedback and then will not give in another idea.  For example, your employee does something positive and nothing happens.  Your employee then tells anyone who will listen, “Nobody appreciates anything I do around here!”  This is counter intuitive to many leaders – as most leaders feel that doing nothing has no effect on performance.

Sign up for the Idea Share Tip of the Week! at Frame of Mind Consulting

Frame of Mind Consulting understands the unique DNA of your organization, which is necessary to turn any organization into one capable of leveraging the full idea potential of its employees.  Would you like to drive connectivity and ownership throughout your company?  Contact Page at (860) 559-7942 to set up your complimentary consultation during which you will receive some invaluable tips that you can apply to your business right away.

To Breathe or Not To Breathe? That is the question!

Breathe

Of course you know the answer.  If you don’t breathe you die.  We can live without food for weeks. We can live without water for several days but we can only live without air for about 6 minutes. Then the brain cells start to die.  If you are in a profession where you depend on your voice to sell a  product, ideas and benefits then a quick survey of your skills of breathing need to be assessed.

One of the ways I check breathing in my presentations and Speeches is to have audience members stand with the back of their legs against their chairs. Go ahead, stand up now and feel that chair behind your legs. That’s because when you breath gets thin you will want to sit down immediately, we don’t want any fainting! Your breath is your life and your vitality yet most people never think about breath as a reflection of their health. Here’s the test! While standing you will exhale all that “used air.” Let it make a noise as it escapes through the little round hole as you blow out the carbon dioxide. Then open your mouth and breathe in the oxygen filled air and let it make a noise across your vocal folds. Silently count as the air rushes in. When you can no longer breathe in, sit down and release your air.

 If you are breathing well your count would be 20 or more counts during the inhale. The average person has a count between 7 and 10. If you were in this range than remember to go outside every day and breathe outdoor air. Indoor air contains other peoples used air, pollutants including: paint and plastic fumes, chemicals, smoke, animal and people odors, cooking odors and 100 other substances that you can think of if you want to. IF your breath is on the weaker side practice diaphragmatic breathing

Almost anyone can learn to breathe with diaphragm muscle support. It does take practice. When you breathe deeply, you breathe automatically through your nose.  A good way to start developing the diaphragm, the largest muscle in the body, is to lie on the floor and pile books on your diaphragm.  Close your mouth and breathe deeply through your nose.  Watch carefully as the books rise and fall.  Continue until you feel the diaphragm pulling and strengthening.  When you are outside walking, keep your mouth closed as you inhale nasally on a count of – one, two, three then exhale on a count of one, two, and three. Remember when you are presenting information to others if you are nervous or tense breathe! Now doesn’t this help you breathe more easily?

Carolyn Finch                                                                  carolyn@carolynfinch.com 

Communication LifeStyle Expert™ Speaker                               WWW.carolynfinch.com

Conventions-Conferences-Corporate and Community functions           203 725 3133

                     Isn't it time to change your communication so you can change your life?

Needlepoint To The Rescue

"I finally know what to do about that program I've been trying to design," reported my client victoriously today. "That's great, how did you get there?" I asked. "Needlepoint!" she declared.

 “Mary” is a massage therapist who has learned additional bodywork techniques to offer more to her clients. She's putting together a long term program that integrates these different modalities to help people who suffer chronic pain. Two weeks ago the project came to dead stop and her frustration with it was high. 

“What was I thinking, I have no energy or motivation to create this,” she lamented. We spent some time exploring what was interfering with her progress and uncovered an all-too-common story. Mary works really hard. She has a full schedule and puts herself low on the priority list. She goes home after a long day, takes care of household matters, and maybe catches an hour or so of TV before bed.

“What about your creative hobbies?” I asked her. “I don’t have time for creativity and hobbies,” she replied. She revealed that there was a needlepoint project staring at her from the corner of the living room and she hadn’t picked it up in three years because of her schedule.

With some encouragement, Mary committed to carving out a little time every day for needlepoint. It challenged her at first. She has developed cataracts she didn’t have three years ago, but she persevered and has been picking up the hoop and fabric daily for two weeks now.

Then yesterday a wonderful thing occurred while she was embroidering: the breakthrough she needed to design her new offering came through. She is now excited, full of ideas, clear about her next steps, and is addressing the chronic pain program with vigor and fun.

You see, Mary rediscovered something that we forget sometimes: creativity begets creativity. She was not making room in her life for creative pursuits that were unrelated to her work. When she did take the time, she found that doing so cleared her head and allowed her to focus and create in a refreshingly different way than she does in any other part of her life. By rebuilding the atrophied creativity muscles involved in needlepoint, she strengthened the ones she uses for designing programs for her business.

Making the time to pursue hobbies that nourish us is not frivolous or self-indulgent. It can accelerate our progress and enrich our work if we allow it to.

What discarded creative project is staring at you from your living room corner?

Jenny Drescher is the founder of Bridge To Choice, a coaching and facilitation company dedicated to getting people out of their own way so they take complete ownership of their lives. She can be reached at jenny@bridgetochoice.com. Visit her at www.bridgetochoice.com