One of the most difficult things we can do in life is forgiving other people. Author Brian Tracy said something about this subject, and the application of this quote can be very challenging. Here’s what he said:
“Forgive everyone who has ever hurt you in any way. Let it go.”
There’s a quote by business philosopher Jim Rohn that really speaks to me because I see a lot of unhappiness for people in their careers and life in general. The quote is simply this:
If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
I think that says a lot because so many people tend to allow life to happen to them, rather than really going for their dreams.
Last night, my family and I went to a nice Italian restaurant here in the Phoenix area, and one thing I noticed is that everything was done first-class. The dining atmosphere was really great, the menus were well designed, and the wait staff was very polite and professional.
The thing that stood out to me most was what happened at the end of the meal. Most restaurants train their servers to ask for the dessert upgrade at the end of the meal. Basically, it’s an effort to add extra revenue to the meal to improve the bottom line, and to the server’s tips. The most amazing thing about this experience was that the server didn’t simply ask if we wanted dessert…..she brought out a dessert tray and SHOWED us what was available. This tray had 6-8 different desserts that we could see for ourselves before making a decision, and she answered our questions about the choices she presented. The big lesson here is that IF you have a business where it is possible to show, demonstrate, or perhaps even allow a sample of what you are offering before a customer is asked to commit, then by all means do it. It’s a way of showing goodwill and also a way to set a customer’s expectation for what they will receive when they do business with you. It’s a great way to add value to what you are already doing.
One of my favirite books is Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.” One of the principles he talks about is “asking for what you want”. Many people don’t ask for what they want because they don’t know what they want. Others don’t ask because they are afraid to ask—they are afraid of the outcome, or they are afraid they aren’t worthy of receiving the outcome they want. DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! Let’s break this down for a minute:
Let’s pretend you want to ask someone out on a date. If you don’t ask, you don’t have the date. If you DO ask, and the other person says “no”, then you still don’t have a date. The outcome is exactly the same. You are no worse than before. But if you ask and the other person says “yes”, then you DO have a date. So basically, there is only upside to this whole equation, so just ASK. It’s the only way you can ever expect to receive anything you want. You have to ASK before you receive.
A few years ago Jack Canfield wrote a book called The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. One of the principles he talks about is the idea that successful people take 100% responsibility for the actions and the results they get in life.
On the surface it doesn’t sound too difficult, but it becomes very easy to blame other people, or to blame circumstances for things not turning out right. In his book, he talks about a formula that state E+R=O. E stands for Events, R stands for Response, and O stands for Outcome….so events + response=outcome.
Recently, I have been reading a fantastic book called Little Voice Mastery by Blair Singer. One of many ideas I was impressed with was his discussion of finding and fulfilling your destiny.
If you are like me, you were probably told when you were growing up that “you can be whoever you really want to be.”
Let me share something with you.
One of my favorite authors is Robert Kiyosaki, and on a number of occasions as I read his material, I run across a really profound thought:
Those who cannot keep small commitments won’t help you make your big dreams come true.
This is really interesting as I can think of several applications……
When I was a teacher at a small business college in Nebraska, one of my favorite exercises I did with my public speaking class was to play “The Telephone Game.” I would begin by having my class sit in a circle, then I would whisper a message into someone’s ear. In turn, that person would whisper the message in to the next person’s ear, and so on. On almost every occasion, the message that came back to me as the circle was completed was not the one I initiated at the beginning of the game. In fact, very often I would hear the 3rd of 4th person’s version of the message, and it was very close to my version but not quite the same. As the message progressed around the circle, the message got a little more distorted each time.
The result of this game had several good teaching points, but the main idea is this: when we don’t communicate effectively with others it can cause misunderstanding. Sometimes the net result of that misunderstanding is nominal, but sometimes it can be significant:
As Thanksgiving has past, I have thought about many of the things I am thankful for—things that people in many countries may not necessarily enjoy:
-family
-career
-safe home to live in
-friends
-financial opportunities!
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