Self-Improvement

When no action is the best action

When you’re hit with a sudden situation where you want to react, hit the pause button. Give yourself time to think it through so you can take wise action.

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Are you ready to go from benchwarmer to champion?

Follow the lead of quarterback Cardale Jones of the Ohio State Buckeyes: Stand tall. Believe in yourself. Know your playbook. And upgrade from working hard to working harder. That’s when you’ll be ready to win big.

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Make your work sing – by boxing up your routines

One day I did the unthinkable: After playing piano for 25 years, I packed up my sheet music and stuck the box under the basement steps. I wasn’t quitting piano. Just the opposite. I wanted to learn how to play without the help of notes on a printed page. My first forays into “playing by ear” sounded more like “playing by fist.” I made noise rather than music. Even simple tunes proved to be difficult without sheet music. This went on for three frustrating weeks, but then it happened: I hit the steep part of the learning curve. My fingers woke up. They began to find the tunes. It’s more than a decade later, and my sheet music is still boxed away. I play most songs by ear, and I can get into a zone in which I make up my own songs spontaneously. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, and it keeps me busy at parties. Best of all, my relationship with the piano is entirely different. So are the results. Back when I needed the printed script, I was reading notes, hitting keys, and stringing sounds together. Now I’m fully making music. It used to be mechanical. Now it’s emotional. It used to be labor. Now it’s a passion. It reminds me of what goes on in the workplace. Like piano players who stick with their sheet music, many people follow the procedures, the written instructions, “the way it’s done.” They hit the keys. They read the notes. They go about their jobs in a mostly mechanical fashion. They use their hands, but not their hearts or minds. They produce, but without passion. Perhaps there’s an alternative. What if we boxed up our prescribed ways of doing things? What if we took “the way it’s done” and stuck it under the basement steps? What if we proceeded to improvise, approaching old routines with a new sense of freedom, choice, and possibility? It’s true that some jobs involve strict protocols: emergency services, industrial settings, hazardous facilities, and other places where health, safety, and security are the leading concern. Procedures need to be followed. But most jobs give people more leeway. If yours does, take it and make the most of it. There might be some noise and frustration at first. But if you stick with it, the result will be music to your ears — and to the ears of...

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7 ways to optimize your optimism

Some people seem wired for optimism, but most of us have to work at it. Here are seven ways to be realistically positive no matter what comes your way: 1. Appreciate and activate your strengths. You have real skills, rich life experiences, and a reservoir of good intention. Put it to work every day. 2. Opt for a partial solution when perfect isn’t possible. It’s always better to make some progress than to endure life as a chronically frustrated perfectionist. 3. Imagine success before it unfolds. Follow the lead of successful athletes. Before you take on a challenging situation, picture yourself dealing with it in a winning way. 4. Act yourself into a new way of thinking. It sounds a bit backward, but it works. Pretend to be positive, carry yourself with confidence, communicate an upbeat message — and those behaviors will start shaping your attitude. 5. Talk about what’s going right. Even in the most dysfunctional environments, good things happen. Start spotting those success stories, and make them the focus of your conversations. 6. Put problems in perspective. Too much thinking can drag us down, especially when we generalize (“I’m no good with numbers”), catastrophize (“If I don’t make this next sale, I’m going to lose my job”), or personalize (“It was all my fault”). Learn to recognize these distorted interpretations, and replace them with a view of the situation that’s scaled down to fit reality. 7. Do what you can instead of dwelling on what you can’t. There’s so much to be concerned about these days. Accept what you can’t change, but work like heck in those many situations where you can make a difference. By Tom Terez •...

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Be on the path that leads to awesome

If you haven’t gotten the talk from Kid President, now’s the time. And if you’ve seen the video already, it’s worth seeing again. Because we all need a good pep talk sometimes.

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Getting your ideas (finally) implemented

Coming up with ideas for improving the workplace should be a good thing. So why can it be so frustrating? “Few of my ideas are ever implemented,” one person told me recently. “It’s getting to the point where I rarely bother to suggest anything anymore.” If you can relate, don’t give up. There are specific ways to move more of your good ideas from drawing board to reality. • For starters, make sure your ideas aren’t all about things that other people should do. Come up with improvements you can implement on your own — and get them done. • With an idea where you don’t have the authority or ability to implement, take a second look. Perhaps you can narrow the concept to something smaller that you can do. Let’s say you’ve pitched an idea for having your organization survey its customers, but senior leadership is unresponsive. No problem. Just scope down your idea to something you can do: Conduct your own survey of your own customers. Others will take notice, some will follow suit, and your idea for an all-company survey is likely to get attention. • When communicating your ideas, speak to people in their preferred language. If you’re presenting to someone who’s obsessed with financials, lead off by explaining how the idea will benefit the bottom line. With someone who’s planning-oriented, show how the idea will help the organization achieve a goal. With someone who’s competitive, demonstrate how the idea will give the organization a significant edge. • If none of the above seems doable, engage in a little guerilla marketing of your idea. Start talking it up, especially with individuals who wield influence and shape opinions. Growing chatter among the right people will give your idea added credibility. The next time you come up with a great improvement idea for your workplace, you might be tempted to rush forward and tell everyone right away. Or you might be inclined to keep quiet because previous ideas went nowhere. Avoid both of these extremes. Instead, advance your idea with the more nuanced approaches described above. It will take more time, more thought, and more patience – but you’ll achieve much more...

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Here’s your secret to more success at work

If you’ve achieved any kind of success at work — and we know you have! — you can easily achieve more. All it takes is a thoughtful look back and an action-oriented look forward. First, pick out one of your bigger successes from the work you’ve done in your current workplace. It doesn’t have to be some Nobel Prize equivalent — just an accomplishment that rises high on your list of “very well done.” Here are some wide-ranging examples to get you thinking: You had a breakthrough conversation with your manager. You assembled the perfect group for a given assignment. You came up with an idea and carried it through to fruition. You gave colleagues a new way to understand an old situation. You made connections with people in other work units. You helped a customer in a major way. You took it upon yourself to attend training and use new skills. Once you have a specific success in mind, think it through with these three prompts: What was the very first thing you did to set in motion the chain of events that led to your accomplishment? Even though other people might have been involved, focus on yourself and what you did. Fill in the blank: I set things in motion by _____. That first step is crucial. But what is one other thing you did that seemed essential to your success? Fill in the blank: Another key action on my part is that I _____. What are you glad that you didn’t do in this situation? Fill in the blank: If I had _____, I never would have achieved this success. Now step back and realize this: You played the key role in making this success happen. Other people might have helped, and the planets might have lined up in helpful ways, but your actions made the difference. As for the specifics of what you did, think about your fill-in-the-blank responses. You had a past-tense mindset for this exercise, but turn forward now and look ahead. What do your answers tell you about how you should go about your work in the future? Fill in the blank: I will achieve more success in the future as long as I _____. Your answer is some of the best advice you’ll ever get. Put it to work starting now. By Tom Terez •...

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How a little change can recharge your batteries

Each of us (you, me, everyone) has barely scratched the surface of our potential. We live with too much of the same routine in the same environment with the same people. Different doesn’t always mean better, but it can be surprising, and it can teach us how to tap more of our potential. How’s this for a metaphor: I was using my camera recently when the batteries ran out. It happened at the worst possible moment, and I didn’t have extras. So I improvised in an unusual way, taking the two worn-out AA batteries and switching their positions in the camera. It worked! That instant change-up somehow delivered enough power for five more photographs. Isn’t that how it often works (on a much bigger scale) in life? You never know when a small change will boost your power and help you do more of what matters most. By Tom Terez •...

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The 12 rules of lasting success

These “simple” rules can take a lifetime to master, but they’re well worth the effort. Make them your daily operating procedure and watch the success unfold. START THE DAY RIGHT. Figure out what puts you in a positive frame of mind, and make it your morning ritual. EXPECT GOOD THINGS. Keep that glass half full by choosing faith and hope over cynicism and skepticism. TAKE TIME TO BE AWED. Look through the lens of appreciation and see all that is going right in your workplace. LIVE A MISSION. When completing those everyday tasks and projects, see how they contribute to a greater good. DELIVER EXCELLENCE. Every job involves service to someone, so serve them well by setting a high standard every day. MAKE PLENTY OF FRIENDS. Every workplace is its own community, so reach across the fence, meet your neighbors, and build your network. SHOW UP ON TIME. Lower your stress and boost your reputation by being reliably prompt. BE INCLINED TO SAY YES. When requests, offers, and invitations come your way, look for every reason to accept. EXERCISE YOUR STRENGTHS. You’re good at many things, and you’ll get even better by putting those strengths to work. SEEK OPPORTUNITY IN ADVERSITY. When times get tough, search the situation for something to learn or some other way to benefit. FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE. Enjoy solitude and social time, work and play, activity and rest, indoors and outdoors…all in the same day…in measures that bring you fulfillment. LEARN SOMETHING EVERY DAY. As the sun sets, reflect on your day and identity one discovery you can put to work tomorrow. By Tom Terez •...

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A Walmart reminder: Use your strengths

The moment I heard that rich baritone, I had to know: Who is this guy? His was a voice like no other: rich, resonant, confident, congenial. The words sounded like warm syrup as they rolled from the store entrance to the checkout area where I was waiting in line. He poured forth every time a shopper arrived or departed: “Welcome to Walmart. So glad you’re here.” “Thank you for shopping at Walmart. Hope you have a fantastic day. Please come back, we’d love to see you again.” When I reached the checkout clerk, I asked about the vocally gifted greeter. The woman chuckled. “Oh, he’s my husband,” she said. “He does have a nice voice, and let me tell you, I hear it all the time.” She knew him well so I had to ask: “Has he thought about doing voice-over work for radio or TV? What about being a DJ or a sports announcer or something like that? He could record audiobooks. He could do commercials. He could do all sorts of things. The man has a gift!” She gave me the smile of someone who had heard it a hundred times. “When you leave,” she said, “tell him what you just told me.” I did, and he responded with a gracious thank-you. “I hear that all the time,” he said. “Well, what about it?” I asked. “Have you contacted any radio or TV stations or whoever needs great voices? Do you have a demo tape?” He looked surprised. “Who, me?” “Absolutely,” I said. “You have a real gift.” As we shook hands and said goodbye, he softened his voice to say one last thing: “You really think so?” Who knows what it was: excessive humility, skepticism, self-doubt, a lack of self-awareness. Something was keeping him from fully appreciating and exercising his extraordinary strength. He’s using it well at Walmart, of course, but could he use it there and beyond? The truth is, each of us has a great strength that remains largely untapped. It might not announce itself so frequently or publicly, but it’s there. You know it is. What’s yours? By Tom Terez •...

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