Boost the Self-Esteem of your Personnel

“outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, its amazing what they can accomplish.” 

-Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club. 

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/225835#5

Leaders: Born or Made?

Published on March 18, 2009 by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. in Cutting-Edge Leadership

The most often-asked question about leadership, and the answer is:

“Research suggests that extroversion is consistently associated with obtaining leadership positions and leader effectiveness. There is also some evidence that being bold, assertive, or risk-taking can be advantageous for leaders. Leaders also need to be smart to analyze situations and figure out courses of action. So, intelligence is associated with leadership, but perhaps not general IQ, but social intelligence - understanding of social situations and processes - is the component of intelligence that is important for leadership. Finally, some sort of empathy, or ability to know followers, is also advantageous for leaders (although much of this is learned). As noted leadership scholar, Bernard Bass, noted, "The leader must be able to know what followers want, when they want it, and what prevents them from getting what they want.""

 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200903/leaders-born-or-made

10 Leadership Practices to Stop Today

by Paul Spiegelman

If you want to be the best in your industry, you have to get rid of your outdated management style.

You might not feel it day-to-day, but business management is in a major transition.  The old days of command-and-control leadership are fading in favor of what might be better termed a trust-and-track method, in which people are not just told what to do, but why they are doing it.  More formally, we're moving from what was called "transactional" leadership to "transformative" leadership. And there's no turning back.

Business owners certainly have a long way to go, especially in more established companies where old practices die hard.  But you can see increasing evidence that by creating a company with a clear purpose and values, you'll find your employees connect themselves to something bigger, and that increases productivity.  In other words, a culture of engagement leads to greater customer loyalty, and better financial success.

Here's my list of "old school" practices you ought to chuck, and "new school" practices to champion instead:

1. Out: Micro-management, or the need to control every aspect of your company. In: Empowerment, the ability to give your people some rope--even rope to make mistakes without blame.

2. Out: Management by walking around the office; it is no longer enough to be visible. In: Leadership by watching and listening, engaging in conversation, implementing the ideas presented to you, and distributing the results.

3. Out: Pretending you know everything. You don't have all the answers, so why try to make people think you do?  In: Knowing your leadership team members and trusting them. Choose great people who have the right skills and fit the culture.  And get out of the way.

4. Out: No mistakes, or a "no tolerance policy" some still think works. In: Learning from mistakes, or being the first to admit an error.

5. Out: The balance sheet drives the business, and informs all other decisions. In: People drive the business, boosting customer loyalty, and profit.

6. Out: Job competency is sufficient. Do the job asked, and you'll survive. In: Recruit "A" players who will go the extra mile. They're out there.

7. Out: Invest in technology to increase productivity. In: Invest in people.

8. Out: Demand change; be very specific about what you want and when. In: Nurture change; your people can come up with the best ideas and you can give them credit for it.

9. Out: Fried food in the cafeteria. In: Wellness in the workplace.

10. Out: Incentives; pay employees more money and they'll do more. In: Rewards; being valued matters more than money.

So ask yourself which of these out-of-date practices you're still using. There's no time like now to try something new.
http://www.inc.com/paul-spiegelman/leadership-practices-to-stop-today.html?nav=pop

5 Ways to Get People to Actually Listen to You

by Marla Tabaka

 You may be a fact- and logic-driven leader, but others don't think like you do. Learn to get your point across through emotional connection.

Have you ever stood before an audience, uncertain whether you are truly connecting with them? Or, have you spoken to an employee who appears to be getting the message--but whose actions later tell another story?

To you, it's simple: Communicate your thoughts and the facts quickly and concisely and anyone will understand.

Not true. Facts and statistics may tell a story, but if you truly want to effect change and influence the way your audience thinks and feels, you will have to go beyond straightforward communications. The key to really getting people to listen--and act: Touch them on an emotional level.

Author Helio Fred Garcia, who is executive director of the Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive Leadership, reminds us that members of a typical audience don't think like leaders do. According to Garcia, your audience must be able to feel and experience your communications, or you simply won't have the impact that you set out to achieve.
"Humans are wired to connect with each other," says Garcia. "And we connect with one another by feeling, not thinking."

Why? Because of the structures in the brain that allow people to experience someone else's plight as if it were their own. These structures, called mirror neurons, are also referred to as empathy neurons.

"Emotion is now increasingly recognized as the key to moving hearts and minds," says Garcia. "All too often leaders assume that facts matter," he says. "That if only we let the facts speak for themselves, people will understand and agree with us." 

In his latest book, The Power of Communication, Garcia notes that when leaders know they are not actually connecting they tend to double down and push more data and facts instead of trying a new approach. That's where things get really toxic. Here are five strategies Garcia says can help you stop reciting facts--and start making a true connection.

1. Keep your mouth shut--for a couple of moments.
Don't say anything substantive until you have an audience connection. Note that their first impression is visual, not verbal. You, the speaker, whether you are in front of a large group or a single employee, prospective investor, or prospect, have to be in complete command. You can gain that command by the way you carry yourself, before you even open your mouth. The body speaks before the mouth is open. Avoid rocking, looking down, and fidgeting. Stand and walk with confidence.

2. Get your audience engaged.
Get the eyeballs looking up before you say anything. Move with quiet confidence and smile, inviting people to look up and pay attention. Invite your audience to engage on the emotional level by offering a warm greeting. You might even ask them a question that prompts a response. It can be simple, as in: "How is everybody doing today?"

3. Grab their attention to make it memorable.
People remember the very first substantive that you say. Once you have their attention, jump right in to the most important thing you have to say. This powerful beginning will stick with your audience, creating the impact you're looking for.

4. Use verbal cues.
Use attention-provoking signals when you move from one part of the speech to the next. For instance, you might verbally number your key points or use other verbal signals like "Let's move on" or "My next topic is..."  Always give the audience verbal cues to look up at you.

5. Recap what matters.
Take all of the substantive points from your talk and group them all together at the very end of the presentation. Remember your provoking signal and say something like, "In summary," then recap everything from your presentation that matters the most.

"In summary," your audience must be able to feel and experience your communications, or you simply won't have the impact that you set out to achieve.

http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/5-ways-to-get-people-to-listen.html?nav=next

5 Things That Really Smart People Do

by Kevin Daum

Don't get in the way of your own learning. Here are five ways to step aside and continue to increase your smarts.

Most people don't really think much about how they learn. Generally you assume learning comes naturally. You listen to someone speak either in conversation or in a lecture and you simply absorb what they are saying, right? Not really. In fact, I find as I get older that real learning takes more work. The more I fill my brain with facts, figures, and experience, the less room I have for new ideas and new thoughts. Plus, now I have all sorts of opinions that may refute the ideas being pushed at me. Like many people I consider myself a lifelong learner, but more and more I have to work hard to stay open minded.

But the need for learning never ends, so your desire to do so should always outweigh your desire to be right. The world is changing and new ideas pop up everyday; incorporating them into your life will keep you engaged and relevant. The following are the methods I use to stay open and impressionable. They'll work for you too. No matter how old you get.

1. Quiet Your Inner Voice

You know the one I am talking about. It's the little voice that offers a running commentary when you are listening to someone. It's the voice that brings up your own opinion about the information being provided. It is too easy to pay more attention to the inner voice than the actual speaker. That voice often keeps you from listening openly for good information and can often make you shut down before you have heard the entire premise. Focus less on what your brain has to say and more on the speaker. You may be surprised at what you hear.

2. Argue With Yourself

If you can't quiet the inner voice, then at least use it to your advantage. Every time you hear yourself contradicting the speaker, stop and take the other point of view. Suggest to your brain all the reasons why the speaker may be correct and you may be wrong. In the best case you may open yourself to the information being provided. Failing that, you will at least strengthen your own argument.

3. Act Like You Are Curious

Some people are naturally curious and others are not. No matter which category you are in you can benefit from behaving like a curious person. Next time you are listening to information, make up and write down three to five relevant questions. If you are in a lecture, Google them after for answers. If you are in a conversation you can ask the other person. Either way you'll likely learn more, and the action of thinking up questions will help encode the concepts in your brain. As long as you're not a cat you should benefit from these actions of curiosity.

4. Find the Kernel of Truth

No concept or theory comes out of thin air. Somewhere in the elaborate concept that sounds like complete malarkey there is some aspect that is based upon fact. Even if you don't buy into the idea, you should at least identify the little bit of truth from whence it came. Play like a detective and build your own extrapolation. You'll enhance your skills of deduction and may even improve the concept beyond the speaker's original idea.

5. Focus on the Message Not the Messenger

Often people shut out learning due to the person delivering the material. Whether it's a boring lecturer, someone physically unappealing, or a member of the opposite political party, the communicator can impact your learning. Even friends can disrupt the learning process since there may be too much history and familiarity to see them as an authority on a topic. Separate the material from the provider. Pretend you don't know the person or their beliefs so you can hear the information objectively. As for the boring person, focus on tip two, three, or four as if it were a game, thereby creating your own entertainment.

http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/5-things-that-really-smart-people-do.html?nav=pop

Stop Procrastinating & Plan for 2013

By Kevin Duan

If you're not planning for the coming year then you better believe that your competitors are. Here are three solutions to get you going before it's too late.

Hooray! The election season is finally done. The holidays are close behind, and 2013 is just around the corner. And yet a good many companies still don't have a formal strategic plan on the books. Many don't even have a meeting scheduled before the end of the year to create a strategic plan and align their team. Often executives will manage for the current quarter with little consideration for three to five year objectives or even a one year plan.  Sadly, as the executives of these companies try to navigate uncertain times, they will wonder the following:

• Why aren't we hitting our goals?
• Why aren't we all on the same page?
• Why can't our people execute without having to ask questions at every turn?
• Why aren't we more prepared?

The answer is simple... procrastination. That sounds harsh but those of you regularly reading this magazine and website have seen plenty of material about the value of long term strategy. You have heard experts such as Collins and Peters, tout the benefits of long term strategic planning and alignment. Many of you know other successful companies who plan and execute consistently. So there is little question that you are just putting off what you know must be done. But perhaps there are solid reasons for your procrastination. Allow me to identify and resolve some of them for you.

1. Complacency

Maybe things are going well for you. Or at least they seem good enough. I am sure that's exactly what your competitors are thinking too and none of them are developing strategy  on how to steal your customers and gain market share. Keep telling yourself that and soon you'll find out the hard way that your business is always vulnerable to others who strategically plan and can out-execute you. This why many businesses fall into what Jim Collins calls the "Doom Loop" as outlined in his book Good to Great. Why be lazy? Taking a long-view approach in your business will insure you are ready for the next disruptor in your industry and can remain competitive.

2. Confusion

Perhaps you would like to execute a strategic plan for the company, but can't focus because you aren't really clear about where you personally want to be in life. Perhaps you spend too much time thinking about what you want to DO in your life, and not enough about who you want to BE. In fact many companies miss their mark because their management team doesn't focus enough on individual objectives beyond the company's goals. If your people are not clear on who they want to be and what motivates them to contribute, the results will suffer and you will likely wander off course. But this is resolvable. Ask everyone "Who are we as a company and where do you see your role in five years?" See if his or her answers align with your perceptions. Taking time to consider your own future might be a good start and better prepare you to lead strategic talks for your executives and your company.

3. Priority

So many executives are constantly battling with competing priorities. As my father always says: "When you are up to your rear end in alligators it's hard to remember that your primary directive is to drain the swamp." It's very difficult to make the transition from working IN the business to working ON the business. But one thing is for sure. If you don't start prioritizing strategic planning you will forever be letting the business run you. The sooner you make your strategy and alignment a priority, the sooner you'll achieve goals effectively and create efficiencies that will free up time and resources in your company. You don't have to be the CEO of a company to raise the priority of strategic planning. Any individual can drive the process and show their value to the company at the same time. Here are the first three steps.

1. Set a date for a 2-day planning retreat before the end of the year. If you don't do it now, you'll forget. Once the date is set you can figure out all the other details.
2. Hire a facilitator or a coach. For a successful retreat, you need methodology and objectivity. A good facilitator can provide both of these things and is well worth the money.
3. Engage your team. Email them this column right now. That way you'll demonstrate your commitment to strategic planning as a priority and get the conversation started. Share the pressure of accountability and you are assured of getting a long term strategic plan in place before year end.

Execute on these actions and you'll surely surpass your procrastinating competitors.

http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/stop-procrastinating-plan-for-2013.html?nav=next

9 Daily Habit that will make you happier

by Geoffrey James

Happiness is the only true measure of personal success. Making other people happy is the highest expression of success, but it's almost impossible to make others happy if you're not happy yourself.

With that in mind, here are nine small changes that you can make to your daily routine that, if you're like most people, will immediately increase the amount of happiness in your life:

1. Start each day with expectation.

If there's any big truth about life, it's that it usually lives up to (or down to) your expectations. Therefore, when you rise from bed, make your first thought: "something wonderful is going to happen today." Guess what? You're probably right.

2. Take time to plan and prioritize.

The most common source of stress is the perception that you've got too much work to do.  Rather than obsess about it, pick one thing that, if you get it done today, will move you closer to your highest goal and purpose in life. Then do that first.

3. Give a gift to everyone you meet.

I'm not talking about a formal, wrapped-up present. Your gift can be your smile, a word of thanks or encouragement, a gesture of politeness, even a friendly nod. And never pass beggars without leaving them something. Peace of mind is worth the spare change.

4. Deflect partisan conversations.

Arguments about politics and religion never have a "right" answer but they definitely get people all riled up over things they can't control. When such topics surface, bow out by saying something like: "Thinking about that stuff makes my head hurt."

5. Assume people have good intentions.

Since you can't read minds, you don't really know the "why" behind the "what" that people do. Imputing evil motives to other people's weird behaviors adds extra misery to life, while assuming good intentions leaves you open to reconciliation.

6. Eat high quality food slowly.

Sometimes we can't avoid scarfing something quick to keep us up and running. Even so, at least once a day try to eat something really delicious, like a small chunk of fine cheese or an imported chocolate. Focus on it; taste it; savor it.

7. Let go of your results.

The big enemy of happiness is worry, which comes from focusing on events that are outside your control. Once you've taken action, there's usually nothing more you can do. Focus on the job at hand rather than some weird fantasy of what might happen.

8. Turn off "background" TV.

Many households leave their TVs on as "background noise" while they're doing other things. The entire point of broadcast TV is to make you dissatisfied with your life so that you'll buy more stuff. Why subliminally program yourself to be a mindless consumer?

9. End each day with gratitude.

Just before you go to bed, write down at least one wonderful thing that happened. It might be something as small as a making a child laugh or something as huge as a million dollar deal. Whatever it is, be grateful for that day because it will never come again.

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/9-daily-habits-that-will-make-you-happier.html?nav=pop

The Top-Ten List of What’s Keeping You From Your Goals

1. No planning, bad planning, or too much planning.
Oh, the power of the plan. “Plans are useless,” said Dwight D. Eisenhower, “but planning is indispensable.” The act of planning helps you to figure out where you want to go (the goal) and how you’re going to get there (the next action you need to take). The best plans cover just that much information and, really, not much more.

No planning can leave you wandering. You aren’t committed to one goal or course of action, so you waver and accomplish nothing.

Bad planning can leave you overwhelmed by details, a rigid schedule, or a totally unrealistic view of the daily distractions and obstacles you will encounter. A good plan allows you to be flexible, deal with the details as they arise, and keep moving forward even when things go wrong.

Too much planning is just you wallowing around in your planner and task list instead of taking that next action you need to take. Trust me, you won’t make much progress that way.

2. Too many goals.
You only have so much time, energy, and availability. If you spread yourself too thin by pursuing too many goals at the same time, you’ll make minimal or no progress in each. That’s just plain discouraging.

Instead, focus on one to three “big” goals, and keep the rest of your life in maintenance mode. Once you make significant progress, or reach a goal, you can tackle another. Success breeds success, so you’ll build on your momentum as you complete one goal and go for the next.

3. Goals you don’t care about.
Your mom, your spouse, your brother, and your ten best friends may all think it’s a great idea for you to start a business or lose weight. But if you don’t really care, there’s no point in setting that goal. You’re the one who has to work for the goal, so you’re the one who needs to want to get to it.

4. Organizing in lieu of doing.
Reaching goals requires that you take action, not spend time eternally preparing to take action. Orderliness is great, yes, and serves its purpose; but your ability to take action does not depend on how organized your stuff, space, or schedule is.

Give yourself a limit on organizing and prep work; when you reach the limit, it’s time to start moving forward, even if things aren’t as neat as you’d like them.

5. Too detailed or ritualistic.
Writers fall prey to this one all the time. You can read dozens of biographies of writers known for their various rituals and tics, from only writing while laying down in bed to using a particular type of pencil to having the right odor in the room.

While those rituals are interesting to read, in real life all they do is slow you down. When you commit yourself to a ritual, you handicap yourself psychologically. “I can’t work unless _____________.” But that’s not true, is it? You can work, as long as you possess the physical and mental ability to do the work itself. Even if that means you have to skip your ritual, or work in a space that doesn’t look, feel, or smell right.

6. Lack of supplies.
So simple, I hate to mention it, but if you’re going to do something requiring special supplies, go get your supplies. Now. Set them up. Now. Then you can actually do the work: whether that’s pen and paper, a laptop, running shoes and a water bottle, paints and brushes, or a piano.
If you set a goal but refuse to arm yourself with the supplies you need to reach it, you’re not really serious about the goal. Either switch to a goal you are serious about, or set yourself up for this one.

7. Tracking results instead of progress.
When you’re working toward a long-term or “big” goal, like, say, writing a novel, it’s easy to get discouraged. In my case, the result – a finished novel – was far-off in the distance when I first started writing. So instead of measuring my success by a result, which was still in the distance, I learned to measure by the progress I made.

For example, I would track word counts or minutes spent writing. Sometimes I would push myself to complete 1000 words a day, every day, for a week or a month. Other times, when life got busier, I would just focus on putting in 20 minutes a day.

Tracking progress allows you to see that you are moving forward, even if slowly, and that knowledge helps you to keep pushing through.


8. No milestones.
Larger or long-term goals need milestones along the way. Training for a marathon is a big undertaking, but if you break it down into certain training milestones, you can keep your focus.
Your first milestone could be running two consecutive miles; your next could be running three; and so on, until you reach your goal. Starting a business, another big, unwieldy goal, works well with milestones. First milestone: setting up an LLC. Second milestone: setting a budget for your business. Third milestone: launching your first product. And so on. Tweak as needed for your big goal.

9. No accountability.
I am, by nature, a private person. And writing is a private endeavor. Talking about my novel made me feel like it was silly to attempt it, so for a long time I avoided letting anyone but my husband know what I was up to, hunched over my keyboard in the corner.
That was my mistake, as it turns out: my husband is not a private person. Pretty soon he was casually mentioning to anyone within earshot that his wife was working on a novel, at which point I would stammer out some sort of acknowledgement while silently vowing to kill him as soon as we got home.

But a funny thing happened… First, I learned how to own what I was doing. Was I a real writer or not? Did it matter? I was writing, so I might as own it, and stick with it.

Second, I learned that people are intrigued when you set big goals. They want to know why, and how, and what motivates you. They start getting inspired. They start sharing their own big goals. Pretty soon, you’re checking up on and encouraging each other.

Before long, I was sharing daily word counts on my Facebook wall. The accountability and encouragement I got, first from my husband and then from many friends, helped me to stick with it on many days when punching out a few more paragraphs was the last thing I wanted to do.

10. No rewards/acknowledgement.
You know the great thing about having accountability? Once you reach a goal, accountability shifts to acknowledgement.

When I finished my novel, I got to brag about it, on Facebook and to anyone who would listen. Public acknowledgement is a powerful motivator, but that’s not the only kind of reward out there. For bigger goals, promise yourself a reward for every milestone. Make it something fitting with the goal so you stay focused.

The Path to Progress
The path to progress is not going to be an easy walk. You know that, right? When you set big goals, you set yourself up for an uphill climb. You’ll be working against a culture that encourages mediocrity as well as your own tendencies to procrastinate, be lazy, and question yourself.
But you can still reach your goals. Focus. Work on one or two big goals at time. Act instead of planning or organizing. Don’t over-complicate things. Get what you need to get the job done. Track your progress along the way, celebrate each milestone with rewards, and share what you’re doing along the way. The path to progress isn’t easy, but it’s fulfilling, invigorating, and the views are a heck of a lot better than anything on YouTube.

http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog/10-reasons-youre-not-reaching-your-goals-or-what-i-learned-from-writing-a-really-crappy-novel/

3 Steps to Reaching Every Goal

by Jason Garcia

Having goals in our lives is important. For some, merely creating goals brings about a positive change. When you make a goal, you are creating an exciting challenge for yourself. To make sure you meet that challenge with the right tools, you will need to do three things. 

1. WRITE IT DOWN
The first step is to write your goal down on paper. This may seem like a simple step, but it makes your goal visible and tangible. Get out a clean sheet of paper, and write your goal down in clear words. 

It doesn't have to be a big dream for it to be useful. Any goal you have should be written down. It should also be somewhere you will look often, or pass by during the day. 

2. BREAK IT DOWN
You may have a goal of losing weight. This alone seems like a difficult thing to do. But when we break this goal down into its different parts, these smaller goals become easier to handle. Losing 10 lbs. seems overwhelming, but losing 1 lb. a month for ten months is something you can definately do.

3. REMIND YOURSELF
With so many things to do during your busy day, your goals can sometimes be put aside. Write yourself a reminder, and place it where it will be seen often. Your fridge, bathroom mirror, or desk are just a few of the places where you could post your goal. 

With these three steps, reaching your goals will be much easier. You want to be happy, and you deserve it. Now you have the tools to go and get it!

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Gracia1.html

Words of Wisdom

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Words of Wisdom

“If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you’ll end up not doing nothing for nobody.” (Malcom Bane).

Words of Wisdom

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” ~ Muhammad Ali

Words of Wisdom

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” ~ Zig Ziglar

Words of Wisdom

From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” ~ Arthur Ashe

What Moves You?

10 Tricks for a Fabulous Workday

It takes just as much effort to have a wonderful day as it does to have a miserable one. Why not enjoy yourself?

By Geoffrey James

Want to have the best workday ever?  Day after day?  It's not as difficult as you think.

These 10 tweaks to your everyday behavior will virtually guarantee you a day that's not just enjoyable but allows you to get more done than you ever thought possible.

1. Start with 15 minutes of positive input.
It's easier to achieve and maintain a positive attitude if you have a "library" of positive thoughts in your head, so you can draw upon them if the day doesn't go exactly as you'd prefer. Start each day by reading (or listening to) an inspirational book to ensure that you have just such a resource at hand.

2. Tie your work to your life's goals.
Always remember that there's a deeper reason why you go to work and why you chose your current role. Maybe it's to support your family, to change the world in some way, to help your customers, to make a difference: Whatever the deeper motivation, remind yourself that this workday--today--is the opportunity to accomplish part of that deeper and more important goal.

3. Use your commute wisely.
Most people waste their commute time listening to the news or (worse, especially if they're driving) making calls, texting, or answering emails. In fact, your commute time is the perfect time to get yourself pumped up for the day, and there's no better way to do this than to listen to music that truly inspires you and gets you in the right mood. Don't depend on a DJ: Make your own mixes!

4. Stick a smile on your face.
It's likely, if you followed the first three steps, that you'll already be smiling. If not, stick a smile on your face anyway. It doesn't matter if it feels fake: Research has shown that even the most forced of smiles genuinely reduces stress and makes you happier. Does this mean you should be grinning like the Joker in the Batman comics? Well, yes, if that's the best you can do. But something a bit more relaxed might be less alarming to co-workers.

5. Express a positive mood.
When most people are asked social greetings--questions such as "How are you?" or "What's up?"--they typically say something neutral ("I'm OK") or negative, like "Hangin' in there." That kind of talk programs your brain for failure.

Instead, if anyone inquires, say something positive and enthusiastic, like: "Fantastic!" or "I'm having a wonderful day!" It's true that there are some people whom this annoys--but these are people you should be avoiding anyway. (See No. 7, below.)

6. Do what's important first.
Everybody complains about having too much to do, but few people do anything about it. As I explained in "The Surprising Secret of Time Management," 20% of your activities are going to produce 80% of your results.  So do that 20% first, before you get to the 80% of your activities that is mostly wasted time. You'll get more done, and you'll get better results.

7. Avoid negative people.
If you've been following Steps 1 through 6, you'll probably find that the most negative people in your orbit will be avoiding you, while the positive people will want to hang out with you and help you. Though it's true you can't avoid all the Debbie Downers, you can certainly find something else to do when they start grousing about stuff they won't or can't change.

8. Don't work long hours.
Long hours are simply a bad idea. For one thing, as I have pointed out before: Long hours, after a short burst of productivity, actually make you less productive. But frankly, if you've followed Steps 1 through 7, you'll be getting so much done that you won't need to work those long hours.

9. Wind down and relax.
Once you're done with the workday, fill the remainder of your hours with non-work related activities that bring you joy and help you relax. The analogy of "recharge your batteries" is valid. Failing to take time to relax and stop thinking about work guarantees that you'll begin the next day with a "hangover" of resentment that will leach the joy out of what can, and should be, a positive work experience. overconcentration.

10. End your day with 15 minutes of gratitude.
As I pointed out in "The True Secret of Success," exercising your "gratitude muscle" is the best way to make certain that you experience more success. Before you go to sleep, get out a tablet (paper or electric), and record everything that happened during the day about which you are (or could be) grateful.

You'll sleep better and be ready for tomorrow--which will probably be even more fabulous than today.

But What About ...
Now, I know some of this can sound like a stretch. It may take a leap of faith to give this approach a try. But before you push back too much, let me answer some of the questions I sometimes hear.

• What if something really horrible happens during the day? You'll be much better prepared to deal with challenges than if you were already halfway to miserable--which is how most people go through their workday.
• What if I simply have to deal with a negative person? Tune out the negativity. Learn to shrug it off. If the negativity becomes too much of a burden, start using the extra energy you're producing to reorganize your team or (if the person is outside your company) find a different partner.
• What if I'm too depressed to do any of this? If that's the case, you may need professional help. None of these tricks require more time and effort than making yourself miserable, however.
• Do these tricks really work? Yes.

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