ThinkTQ.com - Daily Lessons In Intentional Excellence

Are You Already Successful In Thought?

Fri, 03 Jul 200900:00:00 MST

First BE successful. Declare to yourself that you are a successful person. This will help expand your perspective to See and Do whatever "successful people" would do in your situation.

You must first BE, then you must DO, before you can Have.

Today's TQ Challenge: Repeat "I Can Do This!" Believe It.

Choose to be SELF-ASSURED! Can you take a moment to identify what it would mean to be successful at what you're doing right now?
Choose to be CONFIDENT! How would a successful person perform your next task?
Choose to be PROACTIVE! What success can you visualize achieving next?

Your internal identity controls all of your actions and reactions. If you think of yourself as capable, enthusiastic and committed, you will act with confidence and determination. If you don't, you won't. There's no truth about who you are. There is no preordained way you must think of yourself. You are not born with beliefs; you acquire them. You have the power to redefine your identity anyway you want. So, substitute positive characteristics for negative ones, and start living those from now on.

"Every successful man I have heard of has done the best he could with conditions as he found them..." ~ Edgar Watson Howe

Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Attitude Color.

Will This Get You Closer To Your Destination?

Thu, 02 Jul 200900:00:00 MST

Before you begin something, determine whether or not it will get you closer to accomplishing your desired goals. What good are your efforts when you're applying yourself to the wrong task?

Work smarter today, not harder.

Today's TQ Challenge: Maintain "To-Be-Done" List -- Prioritized by Value.

Choose to be PRODUCTIVE! Which of your scheduled tasks today don't contribute to the bottom line?
Choose to be SELF-DIRECTED! Which tasks on today's list will get you closer to your objective and which ones won't?
Choose to be SELECTIVE! What's one change that an adviser would recommend to help you work smarter in your day?

A prioritized list of things to do today is your best guide for where you should invest your time. Some of your projects have more value than others. You don't always have time to complete everything on your to-do list. Therefore, before you start your day, rank your entire list by the relative reward of each task. If there are any tasks still remaining at the end of the day, they should be the least important ones -- not the most important.

"If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got." ~ Lee Iacocca

Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Prioritize Color.

Why Do It The Hard Way?

Wed, 01 Jul 200900:00:00 MST

Take the lazyman's approach. Create a specific and unique place for everything, and you'll never have to work very hard to find it.

Simplify, simplify. If you're going to need it later, put it away where it -- and everything like it -- will be easy to find when you need it. (It's called a file, a folder, a database, a cubby, a labeled shoe box, a drawer, a room, a mini-storage locker.)

Today's TQ Challenge: Create a Unique Place for Everything.

Choose to be SYSTEMATIC! If you're going to need it later, why not make it quick and easy to find?
Choose to be ORDERLY! Wouldn't life be sweet if every time you wanted to find something it was exactly where it belonged?
Choose to be EXPEDIENT! What costs more, your time or a manila folder?

Create a unique place for everything, and you'll always know where to find it. It takes less time to put something away than it does to look for it. Create a file -- a folder, a database, a labeled shoe box, a filing cabinet, a separate drawer, a duffel bag, a tool box -- for every person, project, role or client. This will give you one convenient place to locate all relevant materials or information as you need it. Keep it simple. Keep it separate. Keep it up.

"The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs... one step at a time." ~ Joe Girard

Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Organize Color.

Is This Going To Be A Problem Or A Challenge For You?

Tue, 30 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

You will directly influence how other people see a situation depending on what you say and how you say it. Finish every conversation by reviewing the positive points of any situation.

You cannot productively focus on what needs to get done and speak in a negative manner at the same time.

Today's TQ Challenge: Speak Enthusiastically -- Motivate and Inspire.

Choose to be MOTIVATIONAL! Was your last conversation uplifting or demoralizing?
Choose to be INSPIRATIONAL! How will you put a more positive perspective on your next conversation?
Choose to be SUPPORTIVE! How's your current project going? So -- so, or Sensational?

Your speech is a direct link to your emotions. Change one and you'll change the other. Your internal "self-talk" directly affects your expectations, and your expectations govern the way you act. You cannot speak in a negative manner -- and productively focus on what needs to get done at the same time. If you want to think and feel more powerfully, then learn to speak in a way that reflects positive and powerful feelings.

"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 Blandi

Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Attitude Color.

Do You Have Respect For Their Time Too?

Mon, 29 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

You want people to respect your time, so GIVE the respect you expect to GET. Always remember that there are only 1000 Prime Minutes in each day. It's nuts to waste even 1 of your precisous minutes -- and "criminal" to waste theirs! (Maybe not a felony -- but certainly a misdemeanor!)

Be the person everyone counts on to be on-time, on-task and on-target.

Today's TQ Challenge: Create Systems to Maximize Time -- Yours & Others.

Choose to be COURTEOUS! How well did you show your respect for the time of others in your last meeting?
Choose to be CONSIDERATE! How will you show respect for the time of the next person you're going to meet with?
Choose to be RESPECTFUL! With whom do you have your next appointment? What will you do to be more respectful of that person's time?

Time spent with others can either be highly productive or barely productive -- depending on how you use your time together. Be honest. In any given day, who wastes whose time the most? Create systems for others to respect your time and you, theirs. When possible, take requests and questions from others in batches and do the same for them. Show your respect for other people's time during phone calls, appointments and meetings. Be prepared and punctual. Value other people's time and they will value yours.

"Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time. The best management of our time thus becomes linked inseparably with the best utilization of our efforts." ~ Ted W. Engstrom

Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Optimize Color.

Are You Cooperating Today -- Or Are You Still Competing?

Sun, 28 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

Synergy is based on interdependence. To compound your results, let go of your need for independence and control, and learn how to become a valuable member of a team.

Group synergy will blossom and bloom when you coach your team to be both cooperative and supportive.

Today's TQ Challenge: Celebrate Diversity -- Include EVERYONE on Your Team.

Choose to be COOPERATIVE! How can you strengthen the interdependence of a team you're currently working with?
Choose to be APPRECIATIVE! Have you told the people who are indispensable to your team just how important they are?
Choose to be SUPPORTIVE! How could you support any prima donnas or renegades on your team -- those who need to be converted to interdependent thinking -- without invalidating their strengths?

Life is easier when you approach it as if you're on the same team. Whatever the circumstance, whether you're at a dinner party or giving a sales presentation, find a way to see yourself and everyone else as a team. Look for similarities instead of differences. Find out what each person's goal is for each situation. Then discover ways you can be of mutual benefit to each other. Always encourage cooperation. Find a common purpose and reinforce the positive value each person has to offer.

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure." ~ Colin Powell

Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Synergize Color.

Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success.

Mon, 29 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

Last week we focused on the need to take bold ACTION to keep your life moving in the direction of your dreams.

At the exact halfway point in the year, I find it useful to look back to see what I have accomplished—and look forward to see what I hope to accomplish before the year runs its course.

Read this article at ThinkTQ.com.

The attention your dreams seek is action.

Mon, 22 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

Last week the theme was on FEAR—and how to live your dreams them rather than permitting fear to destroy them.

This week we are going to talk about the power of cumulative action—keeping your dreams alive and well by giving them the attention they so richly deserve... by taking a successive series of small steps in the direction of your dreams.

Read this article at ThinkTQ.com.

These three thieves, Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, will rob you of your future.

Mon, 15 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

All last week we did a "refresher course" on Dreaming and Doing.

This week, I want to cover a topic that is a big stopper of BOTH dreaming and doing: FEAR.

If you let them, these three thieves, Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, will rob you of your future.

Read this article at ThinkTQ.com.

Are you just living in a dream or living your dreams?

Mon, 08 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

This week, we will be doing a "refresher" course on dreams and dreaming.

Your dreams are critically important in the grand scheme of things—because without them, your life has no future.

Like Richard Bach, I believe that your dreams can come true if you apply sufficient power to make them real. In other words, dreams aren't realized by DREAMING—they are realized by DOING.

Read this article at ThinkTQ.com.

5 Verbs and The Truth.

Mon, 01 Jun 200900:00:00 MST

This week, we will be talking about TQ in sales: How to become a great deal more effective, productive and successful.

This is a subject that, I am proud to say, both Kent and I have mastered. If nothing, we are GREAT salespeople! (And I say this with all modesty! Kent is even in the RE/Max Hall of Fame.)

Read this article at ThinkTQ.com.