Warning: Ignoring Your Gut Feelings Could Ruin Your Life!

During a recent conversation with my daughter, she told me about a friend of hers who cancelled her wedding just shy of 3 weeks before it was supposed to take place. Drama and lost deposits aside, her decision to cancel impressed me. It had all come down to her deciding not to ignore her gut feelings. Something about the relationship just hadn’t felt right.

Early on in my sales career I accepted a job my gut tried me to warn me about. "Don't do it! There are red flags all over the place!” I didn’t listen. Instead, I ignored my own inner intuition in favor of the logical parts of my brain where all the reasons justifying why I should take the job resided. Needless to say, it wasn’t too long after I started the job that I realized I should have listened to what my gut – instincts, intuition, or whatever you want to call it – had been trying to tell me.

We have gut reactions for a reason. When we get them, our job is to take some time to consider what our gut reaction is trying to get us to pay attention to. Granted, there are times in life when you will make choices that go against your gut. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you take the time to try and figure out what and/or why you’re reacting. Below are a few insights meant to remind you of how truly valuable your own internal guidance can be.

Everyone has gut reactions, but they tend to pop up when we’re facing a decision. Our gut could be saying “Yes!” or “No!” because we have gut feelings in both directions. Either way, this reaction to a situation is reason enough to consider what it is that does or doesn’t feel right. If you can identify the cause/source of your reaction, you’ll be in a much better position to make a better decision.

Ignore your gut reactions at your own risk. Your gut instincts, feelings, reactions, and intuitions have one goal – to keep you safe and happy. The problem is that all your gut can do is let you know when your safety and/or happiness might be affected. Your gut can’t tell you what to do. That’s why it pays dividends to pay attention to what it’s trying to tell you. When you do, again, you’re more likely to make better decisions about how to proceed.

Your gut will remind you what’s important to you—even when you aren’t sure what’s important to you. Do you find yourself getting stuck in the same situations over and over again? I’m willing to bet your gut instincts have been working overtime trying to get your attention each time the same less-than-ideal situation comes around. From now on, if you begin to recognize a pattern that isn’t doing you any favors, stop! Is it possible your gut has been trying to inspire you to make a different decision all along?

Most successful people think of their gut instincts and intuition as a gift, and have learned to pay attention to them. That doesn’t mean they make their decisions based solely on those feelings. They use them as an invitation to look deeper into a situation and make sure that the course of action they choose is more likely to be beneficial, meaningful, and possibly even more profitable for them in the long-run.

What have your gut instincts and reactions been trying to tell you lately?

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net 

3 Ways to Boost Your Time Management Effectiveness and Enjoy A More Fulfilling Life

There’s an old saying that if you want help with getting something done, ask a busy person to help you. Everyone knows at least one person like this – the person who always manages to cross everything off their list by the end of the day or week.

Part of their ability to consistently manage their time effectively is based on the fact that they have a system they follow. The better the system, like with the Pareto Principle which states that roughly 80% of our results come from 20% of our work, the more likely someone is to look like they just have a talent for managing their time.

Professionals have used this principle to mercilessly reschedule their time and whittle down their client/customer lists to build a stronger business platform. But truly rounded professionals have learned that this principle can be applied to their personal lives as well. From a strictly time management perspective, what activities are you participating in outside of work that have a positive impact on your life?

Would it surprise you to learn that the average person spends almost 5 hours a day in front of the TV? Perhaps, if the whole family is watching TV together, it could be called “family” time, but let’s not kid ourselves. Until we’re ready to take an honest look at the way we spend our time outside of work too, we will continue to miss opportunities for identifying the 20% of our activities that will bring us 80% of our happiness, relaxation, joy, love, sense of contribution, and peace. Here are 3 ideas that might help you identify your outside-of-work 20%.

1.  Make a list of all your family and friends and decide which category each person fits into. This can be tough to do, but asking and answering these questions will help. 

• If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, who would you pick to spend today with? 
• If you were going to live another 80 years, who would you want to spend all that time with?

2.  Remember that you are either in or out of someone else’s 20%. Sometimes we just assume we’re in simply because we’re family or a friend. But think about what you’re bringing to someone else’s table. Do your family and friends know how you feel about them? And even if you’re not great with saying the words, are you doing a good job of making sure the people you care about know you care about them? Anyone can add this to their busy schedule. It takes less than a minute to make sure someone gets the message that we care.

3. Make sure your work schedule includes enough time for you to enjoy your life right now. Even if you’re putting in long hours in at work for all the right reasons, there’s no greater regret than knowing that we willingly let the important people and moments in our lives slip by without a second thought.

The truly wonderful thing about waking up each morning is that it’s another opportunity to do a little bit better today, than we did yesterday. Broaden your perspective when it comes to your time management strategies and you will have every reason to smile, every morning.

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new

product development, sales and product training. I work with a great national sustainable packaging company and their exceptional distributors to increase sales. My success has been and is in utilizing the Pareto 80/20 principal in business and life. I have become an expert in seeking out and eliminating behaviors that prevent business people from being successful. I am a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network, The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net

Get Ready,Get Set-Don't Go - Go 80/20

It feels like there are a million things coming at you, and they all have to be taken care of by you. They could be work related, family related, or some other kind of related, but now there are so many that you’re having trouble sleeping. You toss and turn in your bed while all the things you have to get done toss and turn in your head. You wake up tired, wondering for one fleeting second what it might feel like to start the day feeling good, but as you climb out of bed, the demands of the day take over.
And what will you do tomorrow? My guess is that you’ll wash, rinse, and repeat. 
I want to fill you in on a secret too many people learn to appreciate way too late in life. A vast majority of what you do is an absolute waste of time—your most precious and valuable resource. Time is not a commodity. Once it’s gone, there’s no buying or selling strategy that can replace it. There is no amount of money, fame, social status, or recognition that can suddenly produce an extra hour, day, or week.
On some level, we understand this and yet we still do things we know aren’t going to get us anywhere in the long run; like trying to impress the boss with how great we are, or getting the boss to openly acknowledge that we’re doing good work simply because we feel the need for a pat on the back.
Maybe promises have been made and now we’re in so deep that the idea of changing course is too frightening to seriously consider. Instead, we dig in deeper while trying to convince ourselves that everything will work out, and “It will all be worth it in the end.” I’m sure those were somebody’s famous last words.
The solution? Remind yourself of the 80/20 principle:

80% of your outcomes come from 20% of your inputs

That means:
20% of your relationships provide you with 80% of your joy. Decide which of your relationships comprise the 20% and start the process of stepping away from the rest. The difference between the two groups of people is easy to discern. The 20% lift you up while the 80% bring you down.
20% of your efforts at work will account for 80% of your results. Skip the meetings, reports, and customers that interfere with the 20% of your work that produces efficient and tangible results. You might be challenged at first, but if you’re truly narrowing your business down to the top 20, the results of your actions should speak for themselves.
20% of your investments give you 80% of your return. Is there a way to be more proactive with the less than stellar remaining 80%?
I could go on and on about all the ways applying this principle could change your life for the better, but I’d rather stop while this post still falls in the top 20%. So, the next time you’re starting to feel the stress of all those “things” coming at you, put aside a few minutes to take a good look at them and decide if they fit within your 80/20 profile. It shouldn’t take you anywhere near as long as it would if you were trying to do it while you’re sleeping.

Alan Luoma: I am a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new product development, sales and product training. I work with a great national sustainable packaging company and their distributors to increase sales. I have become an expert on seeking out and on eliminating behaviors that prevent sales people from being successful. I enjoy uncovering sales prevention departments that hinder a companies success. I am a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network, The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view my profile on LinkedIn, or contact me at Luoma@snet.net

The Psychology of Success Part 3!

In parts 1 and 2 of the psychology of success we discussed a few methods that all achievers use, whether they know of not, to become successful, as well as a few of the laws of success. This third part will discuss a few additional laws of success.

Humans have roamed this planet and been working hard for a long time; so as a species we already know how to do hard work when it is necessary. However, what’s newer on the human scene is the mental and psychological laws that either get us to believe that we can do something of believe that we can’t do something. So what are these additional laws and how do we harness their power? These mental and psychological laws are the Law of Belief, the Law of Expectations, and the Law of Attraction according to Brain Tracy, the author of, The Psychology of Achievement.

In the Law of Belief we are constantly screening our thoughts and environment and subsequently allowing in some information, while not allowing in other information. Sadly, we mistakenly keep out some empowering information in order to make space for some false dis-empowering information. Unfortunately, this false dis-empowering information strengthens those limiting beliefs of ours that often create our less than optimal reality.

With the Law of Expectations we often find that we get what we expect, as well as, what other people expect. This programing starts when we are just kids. Our well-meaning parents, coaches, and teachers are constantly saying “No” to us and “Be careful.” Thus, we learn to expect less of our little selves in this big scary world. However, we can still stand taller and see further on that horizon if we change our expectations of ourselves by re-programing ourselves for bigger and better things. In order to optimize our re-programming we should also include the expectations that people who look up to us have us. Are we going to let our younger siblings, our peers, or team, our co-workers, or even our own children down?

Next, the Law of Attraction basically states that our dominant thought patterns attract what we presently have in our lives. If we control our thoughts and create a persistent positive mental attitude, feelings, and expectations, even if we have to fake it a little bit in the beginning, we can indeed get ourselves to believe that our life is full of positives. These positives will in turn attract other positives, such as, positive people and positive things. This sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? And it sounds very doable too, right?

So here it is finally being wrapped up in a three part series of how you can improve your life through the psychology of achievement through following a few of the methods of achieves and the unwritten laws of success. Follow these laws and follow Brian Tracy and you’ll sure to achieve more in your life.

Daniel Blanchard is an award-winning author, speaker, and educator who wrote the Granddaddy's Secrets teen leadership book series. To learn more about Dan please visit his website at: www.GranddaddysSecrets.com.

The Psychology of Achievement Part 2!

In my last blog on the psychology of success I shared with you that achievers, whether they know it or not, practice many of the following methods: Peace of Mind, Health and Energy, Loving Relationships, Worthy Goals and Ideals, and a Feeling of Personal Fulfillment or Self-Actualization. I briefly talked about each one and ended with what Dr. Abraham Maslow called our highest human need of self-actualization in which all of our basic needs are met and now we are working on doing something that is meaningful and fulfilling.

However, self-actualization is not an easy things to obtain. Henry David Thoreau said, “Most people live lives of quiet desperation.” So, why is this? Why is it that after a life time of working only 5% of people ever achieve the kind of financial freedom that will allow them to do what they want to do, when they want to do it? Brian Tracy, the author of, The Psychology of Achievement, believes that even though we have been born into the richest and most advanced society that the world has ever seen, we struggle to achieve because we are born into this world without an operating manual. It’s like having a super computer without the owner’s manual. That computer, like ourselves, is capable of doing amazing things, but without the operating manual, we are lost, and so much potential and capability is wasted.

            So what do we do about this? Well, if we want to get the best out of ourselves then we have to learn a few laws of success like the Law of Control, Law of Accident, and Law of Cause and Effect. In the Law of Control we want to feel like we have some input or control over what happens in our lives. Unfortunately, though, most of us don’t control our thoughts and then our thoughts run wild and make us feel like we aren’t good enough to control anything, or accomplish anything of real value. In regards to the Law of Accident, many of us feel that life just happens to us. We won’t become achievers with that mindset. We have to make things happen. In addition, in order to become an achiever we are also going to have to get a better grasp on the law of Cause and Effect. Every effect or outcome has a cause. We can cause the effects or outcomes that we desire if we believe it can happen and then do the necessary work to bring it about.

So there is our next step in our own psychology of achievement. Let’s master the Law of Control, Law of Accident, and Law of Cause and Effect. Master these laws will move us a step closer to being the achiever that we want to be. 

Daniel Blanchard is an award-winning author, speaker, and educator who wrote the Granddaddy's Secrets Teen Leadership Book Series. To learn more about Dan please visit his website at: www.GranddaddysSecrets.com.