Right Attitudes

Ideas for Impact

Archives for September 2021

Buy Yourself Time

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The secret of “thinking on the spot” is to be prepared. Occasionally, though, when you’re put on the spot, the unanticipated questions and requests for your time and money can leave you feeling tongue-tied and wanting to head for the door.

To put your best response forward and prevent getting forced into some commitment that you might regret later, see if you can buy yourself some time.

  • When someone says something that you don’t agree with, and you can’t speak up at that moment, you can declare that you need to get educated on the subject before chatting about it further. Bonus: Conversations are often easier when you think through the nuances and get prepared to assert your positions.
  • When someone asks you to do something that you aren’t sure you want to do, buy yourself time by saying you must check on something or consult somebody before making a commitment. Bonus: Taking time before you say no can soften the news of your rejection.

Buy yourself more time and speak up later on your own terms. Even if you end up disagreeing with your interlocutor or declining her request, she’ll feel appreciated knowing you’ve given her opinion or request some thought.

Idea for Impact: Buying time—and sometimes stalling—is your prerogative. It shows consideration for others—and for yourself. It’s is a way of respecting your own wants and needs.

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  2. Avoid Control Talk
  3. Witty Comebacks and Smart Responses for Nosy People
  4. Avoid Trigger Words: Own Your Words with Grace and Care
  5. How to … Deal with Feelings of Social Awkwardness

Take Time to Savor Life’s Little Pleasures

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Happiness researcher Meik Wiking’s The Art of Making Memories (2019) observes that the Danes are famously happy despite “horrific weather and some of the highest tax returns in the world” because they take time to savor life’s little pleasures. It’s part of Hygge (pronounced “hue-guh,”) the Danish wellness mindset that encourages a spirit of contentedness.

When life gets busy, it’s way too easy to rush through the motions without paying attention to little experiences. Our lives ultimately consist of these tiny movements, one after the other. Fresh sheets. The smell of wet earth after rain. An old favorite song at the right moment. The kindness of a stranger. We take these gifts for granted and brush by them without really breathing in their grace.

'The Art of Making Memories' by Meik Wiking (ISBN 0062943383) Wiking suggests that you can truly rejoice in life by training your brain to focus on the positive in your day-to-day experiences. At the end of each month, reflect on the past month by celebrating the “Happy 10.” Look through the photos on your phone, choose your favorite ten memories, put them in an album or journal, and think about why you enjoy them.

Idea for Impact: Happiness isn’t determined by circumstances. Happiness is what happens when you decide to relish joy.

Savor the beauty and richness of simple pleasures. Take a moment at the end of each day/week/month/year to appreciate what you’re grateful for.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. But Is It Sustainable?
  2. I’ll Be Happy When …
  3. On Black Friday, Buy for Good—Not to Waste
  4. Be Kind … To Yourself
  5. When Giving Up Can Be Good for You

Inspirational Quotations #912

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A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.
—Patricia Neal (American Actress)

Most of us are honest all the time, and all of us are honest most of the time.
—Charles Mathias (American Politician)

How satisfying it is to leave a mark on a blank surface. To make a map of my movement—no matter how temporary.
—Craig Thompson (American Artist)

There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. … When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.
—Khaled Hosseini (Afghan-American Author)

In our dreams we are always young.
—Sarah Louise Delany (American Educator, Author)

The people that set one animal against another haven’t the guts to be bullies themselves. They’re just secondhand cowards.
—Cleveland Amory (American Animal Rights Activist)

Failure is often God’s own tool for carving some of the finest outlines in the character of his children; and, even in this life, bitter and crushing failures have often in them the germs of new and quite unimagined happiness.
—Thomas Hodgkin (English Physician)

Whoever says he knows that immortality is a fact is merely hoping that it is.
—Carl Clinton Van Doren (American Critic, Historian)

I don’t know any more than you what the future will hold. But my point of view is different. You see despair and I see cause for hope. I read the future in a way that is more agreeable than you do.
—Alain-Rene Lesage (French Novelist, Dramatist)

A splendid storehouse of integrity and freedom has been bequeathed to us by our forefathers. In this day of confusion, of peril to liberty, our high duty is to see that this storehouse is not robbed of its contents.
—Herbert Hoover (American Statesman)

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.
—Ted Kennedy (American Politician)

If a door slams shut it means that God is pointing to an open door further on down.
—Anna Delaney Peale (American Author)

Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune.
—Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet, Playwright)

Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools.
—Socrates (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

Don’t Get Stuck in Middle Management

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This survey by the Association of Asian Americans in Investment Management reports (via The New York Times DealBook column) the nature of discrimination and bias faced by Asian Americans:

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are often stereotyped as lacking leadership skills. At investment firms, they “fill middle management ranks, but their percentages plummet in senior management and C-suites.” Respondents said they were often tapped as technical experts and benefited from the perception that they are good workers. But their advancement stalled as they sought more senior roles that emphasize networking and communication skills.

Most professionals fail to realize that the competencies that made them successful in their early corporate roles are not necessarily the attributes that will allow them to outshine in roles higher up on the ladder. These desirable qualities would include forming coalitions, managing relationships and alliances, determining where and when to shift one’s focus, and learning to appreciate different perspectives.

Work out what you need to get to the top and fight the perceptions

  • Evaluate where your development priorities should be. Find out how you can acquire the necessary skills and competencies. Go get them. Become more visible to management and situate yourself for a promotion.
  • Network wisely. Understanding who must be won over to your point of view is vital for training for your promotion. Spend time cultivating meaningful relationships.
  • Ask for honest feedback—not just from your boss but also from well-respected peers, customers, mentors, and others. Confront problems quickly lest they metastasize.

Idea for Impact: In today’s world, your skills and promotability are your responsibility.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. How to … Be More Confident at Work
  2. Risk More, Risk Earlier
  3. The Career-Altering Question: Generalist or Specialist?
  4. How You Can Make the Most of the Great Resignation
  5. Before Jumping Ship, Consider This

Employee Engagement: Show Them How They Make a Difference

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The sure-fire way to assist employees find meaning and fulfillment at work is to get them to have even a small interaction with people who directly benefit from the work they’re doing.

One research showed that radiologists developed a stronger sense of the significance of their work if a photo of the patient were attached to an X-ray. “It enhanced their effort and accuracy, yielding 12% increases in the length of their reports and 46% improvement in diagnostic findings.” Radiologists typically don’t interact with patients directly—they work in the background providing interpretation services to other doctors.

Idea for Impact: People are inspired less by what they do and more by WHY

How people see themselves and their meaning and purpose in this world may be the most significant incentive of all.

Empower your employees, especially those that aren’t on the frontlines, with direct reminders of task significance. Invite next-down-the-line customers (virtually or in-person) to share meaningful insights, give appreciation, and share feedback. Promote regular dialogue with customers to help stay relevant and become responsive to customer issues as they arise.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. From the Inside Out: How Empowering Your Employees Builds Customer Loyalty
  2. People Work Best When They Feel Good About Themselves: The Southwest Airlines Doctrine
  3. Putting the WOW in Customer Service // Book Summary of Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness
  4. These are the Two Best Employee Engagement Questions
  5. The Speed Trap: How Extreme Pressure Stifles Creativity

Inspirational Quotations #911

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Mental health, contemporary psychiatrists tell us, consists of the ability to adapt to the inevitable stresses and misfortunes of life. It does not mean freedom from anxiety and depression, but only the ability to cope with these afflictions in a healthy way.
—Doris Kearns Goodwin (American Historian)

We can easily manage, if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed for it.—But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow to the weight before we are required to bear it.
—John Newton (English Clergyman, Writer)

They made the fatal decision: they’d chosen always the clear, safe course that leads ever downward into stagnation.
—Frank Herbert (American Science-fiction Writer)

And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After death has stopped the ears.
—A. E. Housman (English Scholar, Poet)

A scientist would rather use someone else’s toothbrush than another scientist’s definitions.
—Murray Gell-Mann (American Physicist)

Man is born good by nature, only to later become a beast because of the Society.
—Luciano De Crescenzo (Italian Film Actor, Director, Engineer)

Joy is being willing for things to be as they are.
—Joko Beck (American Zen Teacher)

Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.
—Paul Hawken (American Environmentalist)

The more internal freedom you achieve, the more you want: it is more fun to be happy than sad, more enjoyable to choose your own emotions than to have them inflicted on you by mechanical glandular processes, more pleasurable to solve your problems than to be stuck with them forever.
—Robert Anton Wilson (American Polymath)

In the democratic western countries, so-called capitalism leads a saturnalia of “freedom,” like a bastard brother of reform.
—Wyndham Lewis (British Artist, Writer)

Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both.
—Alice Stone Blackwell (American Suffragist)

Every poet depends upon generations who wrote in his native tongue; he inherits styles and forms elaborated by those who lived before him. At the same time, though, he feels that those old means of expression are not adequate to his own experience.
—Czeslaw Milosz (Polish-American Poet, Novelist)

Compartmentalize and Get More Done

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One way you can achieve “living in the moment” is by putting your emotional issues into “compartments” within your head and your heart. You can deal with those feelings on your own when you need to.

Many aspects of life can get you sidetracked and distraught. Finding a place to retreat within yourself can be challenging. By compartmentalizing, you can put your feelings where they belong, and you can earmark one challenge to tackle another challenge.

You can focus on the one task at hand and deal with the rest when appropriate.

Mental compartmentalization has a darker side, however. Psychologists identify extreme compartmentalization as a major defense mechanism by which some evade the acute anxiety that can spring from the clash of contradictory values or conflicting emotions. (A very pious scientist, for instance, could hold opposing beliefs about the Judeo-Christian and scientific notions of life’s origins. Compartmentalizing, she may live different value sets depending on whether she’s at church or her laboratory.) Some individuals also fall back on compartmentalization to cope with the lingering trauma of childhood abuse, neglect, and other emotional conflicts.

The day-to-day compartmentalization I’m talking about isn’t denial or avoidance. It isn’t evading conflicts and sidestepping problems—instead, it’s putting things out of the way for the moment and not letting them impede the rest of your life.

You can’t just ignore your issues and expect them to go away, but obsessing on them won’t help either.

Idea for Impact: Compartmentalize and get more done. Putting away the things that hurt or upset you, even if just for a short time, can also help you gain valuable perspective on dealing with them.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Ask This One Question Every Morning to Find Your Focus
  2. Personal Energy: How to Manage It and Get More Done // Summary of ‘The Power of Full Engagement’
  3. Did School Turn You Into a Procrastinator?
  4. Don’t Do the Easiest Jobs First
  5. Don’t Keep Running Hard If You’re Not Making Progress

The More You Write, The Better You Become

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Good writing is hard. No matter how much you practice, writing rarely seems to get easier.

The following guidelines are some of the most basic writing advice around, but they’re often overlooked.

  • Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. Keep reminding yourself whom you’re writing for. Tailor your message for this audience.
  • Write from a plan. Write toward an ending. If you aren’t clear about your purpose, your reader won’t be either.
  • Be specific. Specifics outsell generalities. Restructure your sentences and try to say more with fewer words.
  • Avoid superlatives—fabulous, incredible, fantastic, always, never, and so on. Leave the exaggeration to used-car salespeople.
  • Lead with your most significant ideas. Keep your message simple. Prune needless words. Short sentences and common vocabulary make your material as palatable as possible.
  • Provide adequate supporting information to be compelling and helpful enough, but don’t over-complicate your message.
  • Tune your voice. Read drafts aloud. Examine for both form and content. Redraft. Rephrase. Reword. Revise. Rework.

Idea for Impact: If you want to get earnest about writing better, add these two reference works to your shelf: William Strunk and E. B. White’s The Elements of Style (1918) and William Zinsser’s On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (1980.)

Wondering what to read next?

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  2. Why Good Founding Stories Sell: Stories That Appeal, Stories That Relate
  3. The Rule of Three
  4. This Manager’s Change Initiatives Lacked Ethos, Pathos, Logos: Case Study on Aristotle’s Persuasion Framework
  5. Facts Alone Can’t Sell: Lessons from the Intel Pentium Integer Bug Disaster

Inspirational Quotations #910

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Power isn’t doing something terrible to someone who’s weaker than you, … It’s having the strength to do something terrible, and choosing not to.
—Jodi Picoult (American Novelist)

I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.
—Harvey Samuel Firestone (American Industrialist)

All the wars of the world, all the Caesars, have not the staying power of a lily in a cottage garden.
—Reginald Farrer (English Botanist)

The present age prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, fancy to reality, the appearance to the essence for in these days illusion only is sacred, truth profane.
—Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (German Philosopher)

For out of the eyes of every stranger looks either a friend or an enemy, waiting to be known.
—Owen Wister (American Novelist)

The buyer needs a hundred eyes; the seller but one.
—Italian Proverb

Good is the enemy of great. That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem.
—Jim Collins (American Management Consultant)

It is the things we are unaware of in ourselves which make us so very angry when we see them in other people.
—Irene Claremont de Castillejo (British Psychoanalyst)

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.
—Lloyd Alexander (American Writer)

Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts, he does not hide; he exposes himself.
—Jeanne Moreau (French Actress)

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.
—Bertrand A. Russell (British Philosopher, Mathematician)

Our conscience, which is a great ledger book, wherein are written all our offenses…grinds our souls with the remembrance of some precedent sins, makes us reflect upon, accuse and condemn ourselves.
—Robert Burton (English Scholar, Clergyman)

Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.
—Jane Addams (American Social Reformer)

Be advised what thou dost discourse of, and what thou maintainest whether touching religion, state, or vanity; for if thou err in the first, thou shalt be accounted profane; if in the second, dangerous; if in the third, indiscreet and foolish.
—Walter Raleigh (English Explorer, Courtier)

Life Coaching: What You Need To Know And If It Is The Career For You

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Most successful people in the world share something in common. They had a mentor or a life coach that helped them along the way, guiding them as they grew as a person in their career.

Being a coach, you can mentor others in your area of expertise. With your years of experience and expertise, which you have fine-tuned, you can share them with others as you help to train them to succeed.

One of the best aspects of coaching is coaching others in almost all areas of life. There are endless, valuable reasons to become a life coach. The value is not just for others, they are also for you.

The Role Of A Life Coach

Being a life coach is like being a mentor. You coach and help others by encouraging them and showing them areas of their life where they could improve or view things from a different perspective. A life coach helps others do more of what is the most important to them but do them better.

Becoming a life coach will be a rewarding experience. You can help someone improve their lives. Along the way, you will also help yourself. You can guide someone as they work towards achieving their set goals, especially the targets that they believed were impossible. As a life coach, you will help people discover their limiting beliefs and support them as they remove the strains holding them back throughout the years.

Type Of Life Coaching

Similar to the different types of sports coaches, there are various types of life coaches. To decide what type you could be, ask yourself what you are good at doing? What would you like to help others succeed at in their life? After answering those questions, you can help yourself choose the kind of life coach you want to be.

  • Personal Life Coach – Those who seek the guidance of a personal life coach want them to help with their life. Additionally, they want the support to be successful in their career. All of which is what a personal life coach aims to achieve. A personal life coach aims to help others achieve their targets as they work to overcome the setbacks and obstacles that fall on their path. Being able to help people move on from the things that have held them back for so long can be extremely rewarding. There is great satisfaction in being able to help some who might be struggling. They help them to realize things about themselves. In turn, this will help you to learn qualities about yourself. As a personal life coach, you will also be helping yourself to succeed – doubling the reward!
  • Business Life Coach – Businesses coaches will show others how to bring in more income for the business. They will teach others how to improve their ability to make good decisions that will help in the growth of the business. Additionally, business coaches can create owner accountability and build actionable plans. They can help others to succeed in areas of business where they had previously struggled.
  • Career Life Coach – Not to be confused with a business life coach, career life coaches focus on a particular industry. Often it is one where coaching is needed. Since they have experience in a specific industry, career life coaches will have a deep understanding of the language used, the mentality and other factors to help someone succeed in the sector. With their in-depth knowledge and understanding, combined with the experience, career life coaches can identify areas where people have struggled with and help them to breakthrough and succeed.

How To Become A Life Coach

After deciding to pursue a career as a life coach, next comes understanding how to become one. Whilst becoming a life coach does sound like a daunting career path, it does not have to be. There are various choices available that you can make, all of which will push you forward towards a career as a life coach. During your time as a life coach, you will have an impact on the lives of so many individuals. You will support them in improving their own life.

Before you set out on your journey, have a clear understanding of what you are aiming to achieve. Know exactly what it is you want to do to help others accomplish their own goals. Take time to decide what it is that you want to accomplish in your career. Understand what you have to offer others and why you are the best qualified to offer it.

With this clear understanding of what it is you want to and the goals you want to achieve, you can begin to look at ways to become a life coach. Here are some of the steps that you can take to help you begin your career.

Online Courses Available

Participating in an online training program is one of the best, most flexible options for those looking to become a life coach. You can coordinate your learning schedule around your current timetable. Due to the course being online only, it sometimes will be cheaper than attending a course in person.

You can undergo an NLP training course, which will provide you with valuable skills that will help you in your pursuit of becoming a life coach. It allows you to harness the power of language, which can help to break down the mental barriers many of us create for ourselves without realizing it. Being a life coach, means harnessing the power of language. The power of language is crucial to succeeding and helping others to also succeed.

Create Memorable Experiences

When giving a lecture, ensure that you create one that is memorable and can help in transforming a person’s mindset. Most lectures often go unforgotten. If nothing is engaging or disciplines offered that are memorable, they will likely be forgotten in the days following the lecture. Those that do not apply any of the lessons that they learned immediately, then they are most likely to forget about them.

The Qualities Of A Great Life Coach

Knowing what type of life coach, you want to become, as well as the ways to become one, is only part of the journey. To be a successful life coach, one that can have a positive impact on the lives of their clients, they need to possess certain qualities. These qualities can make the difference between a good life coach and a great one. Here are a few of the qualities that great life coaches possess.

  • Help To Identify Emotional Blocks – A great life coach can help their audiences to identify their emotional blocks. The obstacles in their life have inhibited them from moving forward to become the best possible version of themselves or achieve their career goals. Having the ability to help your audience identify their emotional blocks, you can support them as they look to move past them. In turn, it will enable them to achieve real and lasting results.
  • Challenges Their Clients – Some of the best coaches in the industry will challenge their clients to gain a deeper understanding of their issues. A great coach will challenge their clients in a manner that will cause them to have to face the reality surrounding them with focus, honesty, and clarity.
  • Hold No Judgments – Everyone has their opinions. There are people in this world who have an opinion you do not agree with. However, in their view of the world, these opinions might be accurate. With every client, a great coach will create a safe space where their client can feel comfortable to speak about their thoughts without feeling judged. In doing so, they can both be transparent and find ways to achieve the targets set.
  • Maintains A Positive Attitude – Life coaches are some of the biggest supporters of their clients. They want to see them succeed. Life coaches have a desire to watch them free themselves of their past limitations and reach their goals. There will be times where both parties will experience setbacks. Moments where you are struggling with finding ways to succeed. In these challenging times, it is crucial to maintain a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude will help to inspire your clients, motivating them to believe in themselves.

The Benefits Of Becoming A Life Coach

You know how to become a life coach. Know about each type of coach you can become, and the qualities needed to be a great coach. The last thing is the benefits of becoming a life coach. Most of the benefits are some of the main reasons why people become life coaches. Some of the reasons you might already know, others might be new. Regardless, here are a few of the benefits you can reap should you choose to move forward and become a life coach.

Develop A New Sense Of Listening

As a life coach, you will tap into a newfound sense of listening. Throughout your career, you will interact with a diverse range of people. You will begin to listen to each of your clients in profounds ways, which over time will grow your ability to listen in an innovative way tremendously. Aside from hearing what they are saying, you will also notice exterior clues. For instance, as your client is speaking, you may see a change in their body language when discussing particular topics.

In addition to this, you will be more attuned to their passions and hear their wants and desires in life. By listening to all of these hidden factors, you can provide them with more personalized support. The tailored support is what you know could work well for them.

Impact Your Own Life

The purpose of a life coach is to help others. You will listen to their desires and wants. Then you will work in collaboration to support them as they work towards achieving these targets. Alongside their growth, you will also be part of this journey. You will be a co-writer in their life story, watching their adventures unfold before your eyes. Additionally, you will provide a safe space where they can identify their challenges. When they reach their goals, you will be on the side-line cheering on them.

As you support people in their journey, you will become an expert in your own life. You will share stories and experiences that you have had, which could be beneficial in helping your client reaching their next set goal.

Be Your Boss

By being a life coach, you can become your boss. A boss that you have always wanted to work for and once dreamed of becoming. Transitioning into a role of a life coach, you will become an entrepreneur. You will start to promote yourself, share your passions and strengths with your clients.

The additional perk of being your boss is that you can set your schedule. You can schedule more time to spend with loved ones. If you have the travel bug, you may consider offering your services regionally or nationally, compared to just staying local. It will provide you with the chance of exploring new avenues whilst widening your client base.

The Bottom Line

Undoubtedly, becoming a life coach will be a transformative experience. There will be an abundance of opportunities to interact with a diverse range of people. Your skills will become more refined. Your experiences and knowledge will expand tremendously in a short period.

A career as a life coach is a rewarding role. If you are someone who possesses the willingness and courage to take on a unique position and move in this direction, you can anticipate that your life will change forever. Throughout your career, you will have opportunities to help clients navigate their way through their optimal levels of functioning. You will accelerate holding their vision for the future. In addition to this, you will work collaboratively to develop new strategies for achievement. Ultimately, you will be changing the lives of others and also your own.