Lessons from an Oyster by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand
Had got into his shell.

It was only a grain,
but it gave him great pain.
For oysters have feelings
Although they’re so plain.

Now, did he berate
the harsh workings of fate
That had brought him
To such a deplorable state?

Did he curse at the government,
Cry for election,
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?

‘No,’ he said to himself
As he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it,
I shall try to improve it.

Now the years have rolled around,
As the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny ­ stew.

And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral,
for isn’t it grand
What an oyster can do
With a morsel of sand?

What couldn’t we do
If we’d only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.

“Mark Twain once said “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”  He also said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

Brian Tracy wrote a book Eat That Frog! Brian states:

Conquer the Hardest Task First

If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.

This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else.

Don’t Procrastinate

If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.

The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. You must develop the routine of “eating your frog” before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it.

Benjamin Ellis added to this by grouping the frogs into a system, allowing you to identify what the worse job is that you don’t want to do but will bring about the greatest results.

I’ve taken all of this into account, added my twist and created an iphone application that will allows you to “Eat your Frog First”

I am for one guilty of procrastinating and leaving my frogs to the next day.  Writing this is an example of a frog that I should have done days ago.  I have left this ugly frog because I was not sure what to write, got sidetracked with reading other information, lots of excuses of really.  How ironic the very reason I decided to create this app was for myself and I’m been putting it off.

At the end of each day I’m disappointed in myself for not having written this.  It’s crazy.  I’m sure or well hoping there are others that feel the same way.  “Frogs First” then goes on “things to do list” for the next day. Just reading that I need to do it stresses me a little because I know I should have already done it.

Anyway, today is the day and I can’t begin to describe how good I am feeling knowing I am doing this.  I am getting done quicker than I thought.  This may be not perfectly written, but as that is something that stops me, I am publishing this as is.

So thanks for reading and I hope you are able to move forward, accomplish what needs to be done, reduce stress, increase productivity and enjoy life each and every moment of the day.

How does this work.

Begin by writing down the list of tasks that you need to do.  These may be daily, weekly, monthly.  It is important to write them down and then to give it a deadline. Tasks can be for work or for personal.

Each task then needs to be categorized into various areas as per the following example.

Frogs:              Tasks that you don’t like doing but they need to be done

Flashlight:        Tasks that you don’t like doing and they don’t need to be done

Heart:              Tasks that you love to do and you need to do them

Games:           Tasks that you love to do but you don’t need to do them – time wasters

Frogs:

Keeping the 80/20 rule in mind, allocate the tasks to the frog category they are going to give you 80% return on 20% of your time, energy, focus and work. These are the tasks that are constantly on your mind, you know you need to do them and they aren’t always easy to do or to get started.

The “Frogs First” are the most important tasks and priorities that can have the most serious consequences, positive or negative on your life or work.   Then decide which the fattest Frog is and eat him first

Flashlight:

These tasks you don’t like doing and they actually don’t need to be done.  Sometimes though they appear as if they are frogs but you need to turn the light up to see if they really fit into the 80/20 quantrant. Sometimes we naturally assume all ugly tasks have to be done, in reality that is not true.  So turn the torch on and highlight these distracting tasks.

Heart:

These are the tasks that you love to do and you need to do them.  Because you love doing them you often are tempted to do these first.  However we all know our days are over before we have started so it is important to do these tasks after you have done your “Frogs First”.

Games:

These are the tasks that you also love to do but are time wasters.  I linked them to games as we all can be distracted by games on our computer, phone, people etc.  Keep these tasks to during your lunch break or after work.

Frogs First

Once you have allotted each of these tasks to the category you can begin to get to work on the “Frogs First”.

• Write under the tasks anything that is going to help you get this task done first. Include names of people you need to speak with, website links, phone numbers, how much time you want to spend on the job.
• Begin to imagine getting the task done in your mind and jot down anything that is going to help you accomplish this.
• Be as detailed as possible as this will save you time and energy when doing the task.  Image any problems that may arise and then the feeling of success at the end of the task.
• Rinse and repeat daily

As you begin to get into this habit you will find that you will have much more energy to get you through the day as you won’t be procrastinating on getting started.  Your productivity will soar and your sense of achievement will increase.  You will feel more in control and more empowered.

By doing “Frogs First” everyday you take away the pressure of having to do it later on in the day.  It can be applied to all areas of your life not just work.  How many times do you think to yourself you want to do exercise and by the end of the day you are so tired you can’t be bothered.  If you did this first thing in the day your attitude will be different for the rest of the day.  This is a great way to elevate stress, not just the exercise but taking away the pressure of constantly thinking I have to do that task.

Doing the “Frogs First”

These tasks are best done first thing in the morning whilst you brain is fresh, you have fewer distractions and you have the most energy.

Make sure you do this much dreaded task first before you check emails, make phone calls, turn on the tv.  Get rid of all distractions, Turn off the internet, mobile phone, iPod or whatever the distraction may be.  Every time I hear a Skype ping or email ping I tend to check and this is a major time waster.

Allocate yourself a time of 50 minutes head down no distractions.  Come up for a 10 minute break and then do another 50 minutes, another 10 minute break and then 30 minutes and a 30 minute break.

Don’t stress out too much on perfection otherwise you may not get started.  Just start at where you are at and make changes as needed along the way.

Love to hear your feedback after you have eaten your “Frogs First”

will find true happiness in life. Realize that things go wrong and people change, but things do go on. Sometimes things
weren’t meant to be. What is supposed to happen will work its way out.”

– Author Unknown

Five birds are sitting on a telephone wire. Two decide to fly south. How many are left?

Most people would say three. Actually, all five are left. You see, deciding to fly isn’t the same as doing it.

If a bird really wants to go somewhere, it’s got to point itself in the right direction, jump off the wire, flap its wings and keep flapping until it gets there. So it is with most things. Good intentions aren’t enough . . . It’s not what we want, say, or think that makes things happen; it’s what we do.

I frequently think of writing thank-you, birthday, and congratulatory notes. Unfortunately, only a sad few of these good sentiments ever make it to paper. Still, if I don’t look too closely, I can delude myself into thinking that based on my good thoughts I’m a gracious and grateful person. A truer and less admirable picture of my character is drawn by my actions.

In the end, we either do or don’t do. We either make the time to do the things we want to and should do or we make excuses. As Alfred Adler said . . . ‘Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.’

What do you want to do? Do you want to take a course, change your job, lose weight, make new friends, or spend more time with and appreciate more the ones you have?

What’s stopping you from jumping off the wire and flapping your wings?

Written by Michael Josephson

Pre Launch Australia is now in Global Pre Launch, everyone now has the opportunity to register a FREE position in their country.

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Many experts and top business leaders have joined in spreading the word early about Pre Launch Australia

Attitude can make a huge different in every aspect of your life!!!

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.

It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Charles R. Swindoll

Some other Great Attitude Quotes

1.”Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”  ~Winston Churchill

2.”Attitudes are contagious.  Are yours worth catching?”  ~Dennis and Wendy Mannering

3.”It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect It’s successful outcome.” ~William James

4.”Its not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.” ~Zig Ziglar

5.”Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you thing about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.” ~Norman Vincent Peale

6. “Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.” ~Tom Blani

7. “A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change.” ~ Earl Nightengale

8. “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”  ~Scott Hamilton

9. “There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.”  ~William J. Bennett

10.”Attitude determines altitude.” ~ Anonymous

Which one are you?

The ancient parable of the fox and the hedgehog has come into increasing view in popular culture lately.  And while its origins are somewhat ambiguous, the allegory has been applied to entrepreneurs, scientists, philosophers, playwrights, business leaders, economists, and even US presidents.

One of the fables goes something like this;

A fox and a hedgehog were strolling through a country path.  Periodically, they were threatened by hungry wolves.  The fox — being blessed with smarts, speed and agility — would lead packs of wolves on a wild chase through the fields, up and down trees, and over hill and dale.  Eventually the fox would return to the path, breathless but having lost the wolves, and continue walking.  The hedgehog, being endowed with a coat of spikes, simply hunkered down on its haunches when menaced by the wolves and fended them off without moving.  When they gave up, he would return to his stroll unperturbed.

‘Are you a hedgehog or a fox?’

He continued: The fox is a cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks upon the hedgehog. Day in and day out, the fox circles around the hedgehog’s den, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Fast, sleek, beautiful, fleet of foot, and crafty-the fox looks like the sure winner.

The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a dowdier creature, looking like a genetic mix-up between a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along, going about his simple day, searching for lunch and taking care of his home.

The fox waits in cunning silence at the juncture in the trail. The hedgehog, minding his own business, wanders right into the path of the fox. “Aha, I’ve got you now!” thinks the fox. He leaps out, bounding across the ground, lightning fast.

The little hedgehog, sensing danger, looks up and thinks, “Here we go again. Will he ever learn?” Rolling up into a perfect little ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack.

Retreating back to the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day, some version of this battle between the hedgehog and the fox takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins.

Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its complexity. They are “scattered or diffused, moving on many levels, and never integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision.

Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea, a basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything. It doesn’t matter how complex the world, a hedgehog reduces all challenges and dilemmas to simple-indeed almost simplistic-hedgehog ideas. For a hedgehog, anything that does not somehow relate to the hedgehog idea holds no relevance.

What does all this talk about hedgehogs and foxes have to do with good to great? Everything.

Those who built the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature to drive toward what we came to call a Hedgehog Concept for their companies. Those who led the comparison companies tended to be foxes, never gaining the clarifying advantage of a Hedgehog Concept, being instead scattered, diffused, and inconsistent.

People are similarly divided into foxes and hedgehogs. But it is the hedgehogs that make the biggest impression because they simplify the complex into a single, simple unifying idea. Think of Karl Marx and class struggle, Charles Darwin and natural selection, These are people who have looked at a complex world and found a way of simplifying it. They are hedgehogs.

A Hedgehog Concept for yourself consists of three things.

• What you can be the best in the world at Think of this as you doing work using your God Given Talent  Your thoughts to yourself are:  ”I was born to be doing this’
• What drives your economic engine. Cash flow,  you are well paid for what you do.  You say “I can’t believe I get paid to do this, I love this so much”
• What you are deeply passionate about. Focus on activities that ignited your passion, you are passionate about your work.  ”I look forward to going to work everyday, I’m believe in what I am doing and can’t wait to get started each day.”

To have a fully developed Hedgehog Concept, you need all three. If you make a lot of money doing things at which you could never be the best, you’ll only build a successful company, not a great one. If you become the best at something, you’ll never remain on top if you don’t have intrinsic passion for what you are doing. Finally, you can be passionate all you want, but if you can’t be the best at it or it doesn’t make economic sense, then you might have a lot of fun, but you won’t produce great results.

Excerpts from Good to Great, by Jim Collins and from www.inc.com

As any farmer knows, the growth of a crop only happens when the right ingredients are present. To harvest plentiful fields, the farmer has to begin by planting the right seed in rich topsoil where sunlight and water can help the seed to sprout, mature, and bear fruit. If any of the ingredients (seeds, topsoil, sunlight, or water) are missing, the crop won’t grow.

Growing as a leader also requires the proper ingredients. Unless the right attitudes and actions are cultivated an aspiring leader will sputter and fail rather than growing in influence. Let’s look at five basic qualities essential for growth in leadership.

1. Teachability

Arrogance crowds out room for improvement. That’s why humility is the starting point for personal growth. As Erwin G. Hall said, ‘An open mind is the beginning of self-discovery and growth. We can’t learn anything new until we can admit that we don’t already know everything.’

Adopting a beginner’s mindset helps you to be teachable. Beginners are aware that they don’t know it all, and they proceed accordingly. As a general rule, they’re open and humble, noticeably lacking in the rigidity that often accompanies experience and achievement. It’s easy enough to have a beginner’s mind when you’re actually a beginner, but maintaining teachability gets trickier in the long term especially when you’ve already achieved some degree of success.

2. Sacrifice

Growth as a leader involves temporary loss. It may mean giving up familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, or relationships that have lost their meaning. Whatever the case, everything we gain in life comes as a result of sacrificing something else. We must give up to go up.

3. Security

To keep learning throughout life, you have to be willing, no matter what your position is, to say, ‘I don’t know.’ It can be hard for executives to admit lacking knowledge because they feel as if everyone is looking to them for direction, and they don’t want to let people down their people. However, followers aren’t searching for perfection in their leaders. They’re looking for an honest, authentic, and courageous leader who, regardless of the obstacles facing the organization, won’t rest until the problem is solved.

It took me seven years to hit my stride as a communicator. During those seven years I gave some boring speeches, and I felt discouraged at times. However, I was secure enough to keep taking the stage and honing my communication skills until I could connect with an audience. Had I been insecure, then the negative evaluations of others would have sealed my fate and I never would have excelled in my career.

4. Listening

Listen, learn, and ask questions from somebody successful who has gone on before you. Borrow from their experiences so that you can avoid their mistakes and emulate their triumphs. Solicit feedback and take to heart what you’re told. The criticism of friends may seem bitter in the short-term but, when heeded; it can save you from falling victim to your blind spots.

5. Application

Knowledge has a limited shelf life. Unless used immediately or carefully preserved, it spoils and becomes worthless. Put the lessons you learn into practice so that your insights mature into understanding.

Written by John C. Maxwell

John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, speaker and author who has sold more than 19 million books. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a non-profit organization that has trained more than 5 million leaders in 126 countries worldwide. Each year he speaks to the leaders of diverse organizations, such as Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments, the National Football League, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the United Nations. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, he has written three books that have sold more than a million copies: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. To read more and learn about the work of John C. Maxwell please visit . . . John C. Maxwell on Leadership >>>

Throughout our lifetime, we will face many challenges. How we meet these challenges determines our character. I am reminded of a story about a young man who played, or should I say practiced, American football at a prestigious university. This player was not very skilled and was never allowed to play; yet, he was loyal, never missing a practice.

His name was Jerry and his coach, who was deeply impressed with Jerry’s loyalty and dedication to his team, also marvelled at his extreme devotion to his father. Several times the coach had seen Jerry and his father laughing and talking as they walked arm in arm around the campus. The coach had never met the father or talked to the boy about him.

One day, on a night before an important game, the boy knocked on the coach’s door and asked, ‘Coach, my father just passed away. Would it be okay if I missed practice for the next few days to go home for the funeral and visit my mother?’

‘Yes,’ the coach said and watched the boy walk away, full of sadness.

A few days later, the boy once again knocked on the coach’s door and asked, ‘Coach, I’d like a favour, could I start the game tomorrow in honour of my father.’

The coach, impressed with the young man’s dedication agreed, then worried the entire night, as this was an important game for the team. The boy had never played before and his skill level was not quite as good as other team members. However, the coach had promised and the young man went into the game on the very first play.

‘Oh, no!’ the coach groaned as the opening kickoff floated to this young boy. The coach expected the worst, but surprisingly, the young boy grabbed the ball and ran several yards until he was finally tackled. Impressed, the coach kept him in for the next play. When the quarterback handed him the ball, he was able to gain 20 yards. During the next play, the quarterback again handed him the ball and he went for another 20 yards.

Finally, a few plays later, the young man went over the goal line and scored a touchdown. Everyone, including the coach, was stunned. Amazingly, the young boy continued at this pace for the entire game, running for many yards and intercepting a pass on defence to help his team with the game. After the game was over and his team had won, the coach asked Jerry, ‘Son, what happened out there? You can’t play as well as you did, you’re not that fast and you’re not that strong.’

The boy looked at the coach and said softly, ‘You see, coach, my father was blind and this is the first game he ever saw me play.’

Author Unknown

A smile is a wonderful and powerful action. It possesses the ability to uplift, strengthen, and bring immeasurable levels of comfort and joy. It can turn a negative point in time to a positive one in the blink of an eye. The simple act of smiling can change the course of a single moment, or an entire day.

We humans are very interesting creatures indeed. We often are so consumed with ourselves and our problems or concerns that we forget that smiling at another person can lighten both our spirits and theirs. We find it effortless to smile at our friends and family members, but there are so many others who would greatly benefit from this natural gesture as well.

It can be so easy and fulfilling to make it a point to smile at the cashier at the grocery store, our co-workers, and the individuals we pass as we walk down the streets of our neighborhoods. Moods can instantly change for the better, and tension or uncomfortable atmospheres can be lessened to a great degree.  

We are often not aware that smiling at a complete stranger could quite possibly be a life-altering gift to them. Perhaps they were feeling depressed or lonely, yet our smile, at one single moment in time, may have made a world of difference.

Simply put, one small smile can reap enormous benefits to those we come in contact with on a daily basis, or just once in a lifetime.

Make your smile genuine. While it is perfectly possible to crack a smile when you feel terrible, angry, annoyed, or you’re up to something nefarious, a genuine smile is much harder to fake.

Smile with your eyes. A wholehearted smile will naturally draw in the eyes.

I’m sending a smile your way today make sure you pass it on.  Julia  

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It may be the only sunshine he sees all day.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.