The deck was stacked against me that morning…

I moved my daughter over the weekend which involved driving a truck and trailer for 17 hours, moving more stuff than I care to remember, and wrestling a bear of a refrigerator to the point of physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation…

My alarm clock went off an hour early because I forgot to reset it…and so did my coffeemaker…

I skinned my right thumb while moving furniture. It decided to bleed on my favorite white dress shirt as I put it on that morning…

I couldn’t find a band-aid in the medicine cabinet and was forced to wake up my wife to find me one so I wouldn’t stain another white dress shirt…next time, I’ll take my chances with the shirt.

My keys weren’t where I thought I left them which meant I hunted all over the bedroom, re-waking my wife, until I realized they were in my winter coat which I wore the previous night when unhooking the trailer…

I took a case of my best-selling Work Positive in a Negative World book to put in the back of the Suburban and when shutting the lift gate, slammed it into my head. Miraculously the gate was undamaged…

…and as I left the garage, it started snowing and I had a 4-hour, round trip drive.

All of this happened in one hour on one morning as I prepared to travel to speak to a group of insurance and financial services
associates. Their state director was to be present which would hopefully mean a great deal of referral business…it was a big morning.

You can imagine that after all of these “challenges” what I really wanted to do was to take off the white shirt, and just get back in bed and sleep it off.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I just kept going.

Sure, I was frustrated…make that, angry, as I left.

Sure, I was more tired…make that, exhausted, as I started the vehicle.

Sure, I was doubting myself…make that, insecure, as I wandered if I’d make any sense at all in the presentation.

But I just kept going.

I drove down some snowy roads, my head hurting, exhausted, praying I’d make it safely.

I put a smile on my face, and presented for an hour like my life depended on it.

When it was all said and done, I received a standing ovation from the participants.

The meeting planner said, “Awesome.”

The state director joined in the standing ovation, clapping enthusiastically and the meeting planner said she’d sell him for me.

Even when it seems like the deck is stacked against you…

…just keep going.

It’s the one thing you must do if you will ever succeed against a stacked deck.

(And when isn’t the deck stacked?)

I enjoyed some quiet time early one morning before the demands of my day started. All of a sudden, a bird began squawking just outside the window. At first I ignored it, but it loudly persisted so I got up.

As I stepped out on the porch, I saw the bird squawking at Maybelle, our cat, who sat on the porch, staring off across the horse pasture. The bird bothered me, but not Maybelle.

She sauntered over, giving me permission to pet her while the bird still screamed at us. But Maybelle didn’t mind. She knew the bird was there, but chose to ignore it and enjoy my petting.

Is there always someone squawking at you about your business?

An employee complaining about your “cheap coffee”?

A vendor who’s more concerned about his sales than your profits?

A customer who’s convinced you overcharged her a nickel?

How do you deal with all the squawkers like Maybelle and Work Positive?

Ignore Them

Like Maybelle, you have a choice to whom you give your time, energy, and attention: the squawkers or someone more pleasant.

The path of least resistance is to abdicate your choice to the negative world and allow the loudest or most persistent squawker to garner your precious resources. Maybelle chose to ignore the pain-in-the-rear bird.

How often do you make a conscious choice in your workday to be like Maybelle and ignore the squawkers? She knew the bird was there, just like you know your chronically complaining employee is present, your vendor’s agenda, and your customer’s penchant for penny-pinching. You accept the reality of working with them, but strategically divert your most precious resources—time,
energy, and attention—away from them.

Your internal conversation goes something like this: “I hear you, but I choose to ignore you.”

Eliminate Them

Sometimes ignoring them fails to moderate the squawking. They ramp up the volume and start dive-bombing you in a concerted effort to siphon your precious resources.

That’s when you move to eliminate them.

Maybelle was a well-fed cat, and on this particular occasion, chose not to eat the bird. However, I remember many other times when I discovered bird feathers around her mouth.

When the level of difficulty in ignoring the squawkers moves to DefCon 1 for you, then your internal conversation becomes, “It costs too much to do business with you.”

You fire the employee and hire another.

You fire the vendor and talk with the next in line.

You fire the customer and attract another, more preferable one.

You ignore, and when necessary eliminate, the squawkers at work, so you may…

Enjoy Them

Maybelle relaxed on the porch, gazing across the beautiful pastures to welcome a new day. She chose to give her time, energy, and
attention to the positive morning and enjoy.

Next, she seized the opportunity of my walking out on the porch to enjoy some petting. She embraced the chance to purr.

As you ignore and when necessary eliminate the squawkers, you free up your time, energy, and attention to give to more pleasurable Work Positive pursuits. Your internal conversation transforms to, “I choose you to enjoy.”

You get feedback on how to improve from your best employee.

You strategize with your vendor to create better price points for products.

You handwrite a personal note to your best customers to express your gratitude for their sending their friends to you.

You purr as you Work Positive.

Who will win your time, energy, and attention at work today?

Be like Maybelle.

Ignore, eliminate, and enjoy as you Work Positive in a negative world.

I really enjoy feeding the birds this time of year. I set up a bird feeder in our backyard. The problem is that squirrels love bird seed, too.

I waged war on the bird-seed-stealing squirrels one winter. I borrowed an air rifle and looked for the squirrels as I walked by our bay window. I even put our younger daughter on alert—“Honey, let me know if you see a squirrel on our bird feeder.”

That is, until one day she said, “Daddy, we used to look out the window for pretty birds. Now we look for ugly squirrels.”

It’s easy to stop looking for the beautiful qualities in your business these days, to cease listening for the lovely songs of the cash register cha-ching or the relieved look on a customer’s face when you solve a problem; to miss the brilliant colors of the relationships you enjoy with employees and clients alike.

Here are three ways to look for the beautiful at work and feed your business positively.

Abstain from negative conversations

Choose your conversations carefully whether on the phone or in the hallway. Listen actively. Redirect quickly when the conversation spirals downward into negativity without a suggestion of course correction. Attempt to reframe—“Yes, and yet…”—if the redirect is ineffective. Remove yourself with “I must go” if the redirect or reframe fails.

Words impact our perception of reality. Think about how you feel after hanging up or what you’re thinking as you walk away from conversations. Positive exchanges lift dark clouds and energize you. Negative words do the opposite.

Deal with conversations quickly. Ask yourself, “Where is this going? Do I want to participate?” and choose accordingly.

Allow for interruptions

You’re goal-focused with a prioritized list for the day’s activity. That’s great—focus on the positive and do those things that increase your profitability most effectively.

Also, allow for interruptions which happen regardless. A customer appears suddenly with a situation you can resolve. A client calls in with an opportunity for more work.

It’s easy when these detours appear on the day’s path to get frustrated, and sideways in your mental model. Such a reaction prevents you from feeding your business positively.

Instead, anticipate interruptions. Deal with them positively, quickly, and effectively. If resolution is achieved in a matter of minutes, do it. If not, promise to get back with the person and get your Work Positive dream team on it.

Then return to your schedule with a renewed interest sustained by your expectation of interruptions.

Access news/information positively

When you watch TV and listen to radio news, you abdicate your editorial license to someone with a negative agenda. Your filters are down and you simply absorb. These are “push” media that will shove their spin into your mind…as you let them.

Instead choose “pull” media like Internet news site where you are the queen/king of content. Proactively choose what to read or watch and allow into the theater of your mind. You may stop reading or follow links for more. Your plethora of sources is virtually infinite. Diversify the viewpoints. Filter out the negative for the sake of negative. Focus on information you can use to your business advantage positively.

Sure, you’ll feed some ugly squirrels in doing business today.

Choose to focus on the beautiful birds with these three ways to feed your business positively.

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, she really wanted a certain kind of baby crib. It even had a name—the Jenny Lind crib.

Frankly, at that point in my life, I didn’t have enough money to buy it, but I really wanted to purchase it because it meant that much to my wife. I was discovering even then how to Work Positive. So I changed my perception, released my imagination, conceived a complementary relationship, believed that I could find the money, and acted on my attention and intention so I achieved the positive result of buying that crib.

First, I remembered my shotgun. I had not been hunting for years with that gun, but it was still special to me. Santa Claus brought it to me when I was 13 years old. It was my “dream gun”—a Remington 870 Wingmaster pump-action 12 gauge with a 28-inch modified choke barrel. I drooled all over “her page” in the Sears Wishbook catalog that year. I stood for hours staring at her in the local gun shop. Not that I was attached to my gun or anything like that . . .

Then, in a flash I decided that the crib was coming and the gun was going. I would sell my shotgun and buy the baby crib. On my way to the gun shop to sell it, I stopped by to visit my friend, James, who said he wanted it. So I sold the shotgun to him and bought the crib, presenting it to my wife as a surprise baby gift. She loved it!

About fourteen years later, on my 40th birthday, my wife threw a huge birthday party for me. She had about 250 of my closest friends over for a meal and party. It was great.

After everyone left, she escorted me into our home and said, “There’s one more thing. Close your eyes and hold out your hands and I will give you a big surprise.”

I did, and then she said, “OK, open your eyes! Here’s your birthday present” and handed me my Remington Wingmaster 12 gauge shotgun that I had sold to buy the Jenny Lind baby crib.

“Where did you get it?” I said.

“From James,” she said. “I called him and told him that you were turning 40 and asked him if I could buy your gun back. And Joey,” she said. “He wouldn’t let me pay him. He gave it to me as your present.”

Business Truth 1: Love your customers and clients, employees and suppliers with the same reckless abandon that my wife, James, and I did. Commit yourself to solving their problems, to growing their bottom line, and to improving their lifestyle. They will remain loyal to you forever.

Business Truth 2: What goes around, really does come around. Serve everyone associated with your business based on their needs first. You will always have enough to go around.

Business Truth 3: Believe in your business. Work hard to love and serve. And at the beginning and end of each day, remind yourself that there are Work Positive resources converging that are beyond your ability to control or influence. You will succeed.

 

Regardless of whether your team won the Super Bowl or which commercial was your favorite, maybe you think most of the players on the field Sunday were highly-recruited, sought-after talent like Giants quarterback, Eli Manning. The team with the largest linemen or tallest receivers wins, right?

Nope.

The New England Patriots line-up included 7 players who weren’t even drafted as rookies while the New York Giants had 8. The
Patriots’ 53-man roster only included 25 players they drafted and the Giants had 26. Almost half of each team was picked up off of waivers, after being cut by another team, or part of a trade. Other teams rejected them, but the two teams in this year’s Super Bowl gave them a chance and they succeeded.

How did they do it? And what can you learn from them that will help you Work Positive and be a winner in your game of business?

Work Hard

Center Dan Connolly was signed by the Patriots in September 2007 after he was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He spent that
season on the Patriots practice squad. In 2008, he played in one game.  He started on Super Bowl Sunday.

“I take a lot of pride in knowing that I and a lot of other guys have come from kind of nothing. We’ve had to work hard to get
where we’re at,” Connolly says.

How do you work hard in your business? To be a winner like Connolly, going from cut to Super Bowl starter, you choose to disregard that you come from nothing and focus on your championship goals. You do more with less. You innovate. You disrupt. You focus on what’s most important. You work hard.

Have Urgency

Matt Slater, a fifth-round draft pick by New England in 2008, sees similarities between all the players who overcome being drafted
in the late rounds, not being drafted or being cut by other teams.

“You kind of have that sense of urgency from the day you come into the league knowing that things are not going to be easy for
you,” Slater says. For Slater, every down counts.

Do you believe in your business with a sense of urgency, with a fire in your belly? Are you emotionally engaged and passionate about your work? Do you personally see to it that the next call is made, or widget crafted well?

Lower your expectations that the path to business success is easy. Take personal responsibility for controlling the activities you can.  

Be Strategic

Victor Cruz, a wide receiver, wasn’t released by an NFL team, but he wasn’t drafted by one either. He led the Giants with 82
receptions for 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns in the regular season.

“I wasn’t really shocked” about not being drafted, says Cruz, who’s 6-0, 204 pounds. “I understood the process and understood that I wasn’t a guy that had blazing statistics or was 6-6, 230 pounds or anything like that. I understood that I probably wasn’t going to get drafted and would just have to make the best of my opportunity … and just do the best I could to break through on the team.”

When you are strategic like Cruz, you strive for excellence as you Work Positive which means you do the best you can to break through and win in the game of business. To get that contract. To conceive a positive relationship with your employees or employer. To do what it takes to the best of your ability to succeed. You are strategic.

So the next time you experience rejection or failure, just remember that half of the players on the field for the Super Bowl went through what you’re going through. Yet they still succeeded in the game. You can, too.

I walk in and out of our backdoor every day. I see this door a lot, but I learned recently that I don’t really look at it.

For some reason, I noticed how dirty the glass was in this door.  But it was like I saw it for the first time, or the first time in a long time.

I sprayed and wiped the window, then wondered, “Why hadn’t I noticed that before?”

Walking through that door is a habit. Once something becomes a habit, it’s familiar. That means we assume we know how it looks or acts without really looking.

Take your business, for instance.

You have certain business habits. They’re familiar. Based on your assumptions.

Most of them are about you.

And they’re strangling your profitability.

Here’s some familiar business dirt that could use a good cleaning.

Features and Benefits

When you talk about your company, what words do you use?

Do you focus on the company itself, the key features it offers? As you listen to yourself, do you hear, “I” or “Us”?

Or, “You” and “Your”?

It’s a familiar habit to extol the virtues of your company. You work hard and you’re proud of your business. It’s a familiar door.

However, your business features have value only as they benefit the customer.

What problems do you solve for them? How is their work accomplished more quickly or pleasantly by your services?

It’s not about you. It’s about your customers and what you do for them.

Clean the “me” from your feature-driven conversation and let “thee”-benefits shine.

Selling and Buying

Which do you do—sell to your clients or remove the obstacles to their buying?

Your habit may be to sell, which focuses more on why your widget is the best one in the world. But what if that customer isn’t interested in a widget? No amount of selling will close the deal.

I heard a story about a furniture store sales rep who attempted to sell a customer who wanted a round coffee table. The rep showed her every square and rectangle table in the store. Exasperated, the customer asked if he could order her one. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll email you a picture and the website.”

You guessed it. The picture was of a rectangle coffee table.

Accurate listening is the difference between selling and buying. Ask the right questions with a smile, listen carefully, and you’ll
discover everything you need to know to help convert the visitor into a customer for life who sends all of her friends to you to buy.

Spray and clean the “selling,” listening until it sparkles with “buying” and you form a mutually beneficially relationship.

Transactions and Transformations

Such mutually beneficial relationships are transformative, not just transactional.

Who do you take your vehicle to for repairs—someone who just keeps replacing parts and charging you for it?

Or, someone who accurately diagnoses and fixes your vehicle’s problem, and you drive away confidently?

Your customers give you far more than their money. They give you their trust.

They return when they trust you because you transformed the relationship.

They never come back if you don’t because you simply transacted business.

Spray and clean your business practices until they sparkle with more than money. Trust is the currency of doing business today.

Clean up your dirty business habits and you’ll see clearly more profits than ever before.

I was putting up some fencing around our horse pasture. Like most men, when I get involved in a project, a trip to the home improvement store becomes necessary. And I have to look around and make sure there’s nothing else I need, especially if power tools are involved.

Well, I bought what I thought I needed to do the fence. When I returned, I discovered that I already had the parts I needed from a previous project. I learned that if you do an inventory, you discover what you need and what you already have.

You do more with less.

You achieve more with less when you discover what your business needs and what you already have. Let’s inventory three aspects:

Attention

What gets most of your attention—the positive strengths of your business?

Or, the negative weaknesses?

Sure, we have to shore up the weak links in our chain of business operations from time to time. Do it quickly and efficiently whether it’s a personnel issue or software upgrade.

When you consistently focus on the negative, you find more problems to be solved. This use of your attention is counterproductive to your business’ growth.

Focus your attention instead on the positive strengths of your business.

One way to do this is to give yourself 10 minutes of positive thoughts each morning. Go over your calendar or list of tasks and
spend 10 minutes visualizing positive outcomes. This focus on the best, positive possibilities for your work sets your attention compass on the due north of success. The rest of you follows.

Intention

What is it about your business that emotionally engages you? Why do you do this business instead of another one?

All business professionals have competing intentions. The real challenge for us to align our intentions with our attention. The positive strengths of your business are your priority attention. You couple those strengths with what you enjoy most about your business, or, as so many people talk about today, with what you’re passionate about.

You pair up your positive thoughts and people—strengths of your business—with your emotional engagement—your intentions—and create a vibrant, Work Positive business that spins off profits when you…

Action

…act on what you’ve paid attention to and given your intentions.

The question here is, “What do you do?”

How many business professionals do you know who, when you ask, “How’s business?” say something like, “All I do is solve personnel problems”?

What are they paying attention to? The weaknesses. So their actions reflect it.

How many more professionals tell you, “All I do is put out fires”?

Where are their intentions? Divorced from what they wish were their actions.

Such intentions pave the road to nowhere.

Action follows Attention and Intention.

Look at your to-do list and ask yourself, “Do these activities reflect my focus on positive strengths and people and what I get
excited about in this business?”

Delegate or delete the ones that don’t.

Move the ones that do to the top of your list.

Then go do them.

That’s how you do more with less.

What do you believe about your business?

Your business beliefs are the core values of your “how” in leading your relationships and managing the details. Have you ever taken four minutes and written them down?

Make sure you include these three things you gotta believe about your business:

Business Pace

When my daughter ran distance races, she trained her body to build endurance by putting in the necessary miles daily. She also exercised her mind to learn course management.

She discovered in her first races that adrenaline would push her out hard and fast from the start and carry her for a while. If she kept up that pace, she often led, but when she approached the finish, she had no energy left and fell way back. The only result that counts is when you cross the finish line.

She discovered how to pace herself, starting strong, settling into a comfortable, economical pace, with enough reserve for a powerful finish kick. Such a pace allowed her to compete and succeed.

Your business has a pace. Adjusting your intensity to reflect it is a key to Work Positive success. You run sprints one way. Maybe
that’s your 4Q. You run 5K’s an entirely different way. That might be your 1Q.

You gotta believe that your business has a pace and rhythm all its own. Adjust your intensity accordingly and train for it.

Balance People and Tasks

You can focus your business efforts on people—employees, vendors, and customers—but when you do, you lose sight of your company goals.

You can focus your energy on accomplishing tasks—your goals and action plan—but when you do, you forget that its people who accomplish those tasks.

My grandmother gave me a chocolate bunny every spring for Easter. Some years, I bit into it to find only air inside. Other years, it was marshmallow. My favorite years were those when I discovered chocolate through and through.

Balancing people and tasks means you lead your business consistently—through and through. You lead people to accomplish tasks and focus on tasks for people to achieve.

You gotta believe that your business succeeds when you balance people and tasks.

Beyond the Obvious

You’re staring at your P&L and balance sheets for 2011 about now. What do you believe happened in 2011 in your business?

A pair of sisters enjoyed shopping in a Goodwill shop in Virginia. One of them saw a pearl necklace, found it attractive, and since it
was only $.69, bought it, believing that it was just costume jewelry.

Wearing it back home in Arizona, a friend commented on how beautiful it was and encouraged her to get it appraised. She did and discovered that it was worth a little more than the $.69 purchase price.

Like $50,000 more.

As you look back on 2011 and forward into 2012, you gotta believe beyond the obvious. Believe that at least some of your investments in adjusting your business pace will pay off this year. Believe that by balancing people and tasks you will discover unimagined value.

You gotta believe in your business in 2012!

When I made a New Year’s resolution a few years ago to start exercising regularly, I did pretty well at first, going often and really
enjoying the time and feeling better. After a while though I noticed my enthusiasm waning.  I had more excuses not to go and I let them get in the way.

I knew I needed a partner—someone to hold me accountable, committed to our mutual success, and who brings out the best in me. Our younger daughter became my partner.  She helped me push away from my desk and get up and do what I intended.

We business owners often try to go it alone and do pretty well at first. After a while though, for a variety of reasons, we find more
excuses not to do what we should.

Who is your partner? Who is someone with whom you can conceive positive outcomes in your business?

Here are the three key characteristics your partner must have for you to get to where you want to be in your business.

Accountability

A rubber band has a shape of its own which isn’t very useful. It just lays there in the palm of your hand without any obvious use. Put a little pressure on it, it changes shape, and suddenly becomes very usable for a variety of purposes.

Accountability is the pressure your partner puts on you to move beyond your current business practices to ones that are more purposeful. You shift your shape toward more productivity and conceive more positively how your business can grow.

Mutual Benefit

I bought a bird feeder that promised to be squirrel proof. A counterweight system closed the gate on the bird seed slots when a heavy squirrel sat on the perch. It worked…until one day I watched as a squirrel ate eagerly from the perch while another squirrel sat on the counterweight. Then they switched places.

Now if squirrels can Work Positive for mutual benefit, we can find a partner with whom we can enjoy a similar relationship.

Insure that your partner is committed to your mutual success.

Brings Out the Best

When you are around some people, you look brighter, act sharper, and move more effectively to get things done. You just sense that you’re at your best.

Who brings out the best in you? Whether it’s offering you words of encouragement, or helping you assess accurately a situation, or doing some heavy lifting, your partner must be that person with whom you reach higher, accomplish more, and achieve greatness.

Regardless of how talented or skilled you are as a business professional, you develop personally and grow your business professionally more effectively and efficiently when you remember that it takes two to positively partner for greater success!

Conceive your business to positive profits and productivity starting today!

010312How do you try to make your New Year’s resolution happen?  Do you tough it out on your own, using sheer will power and strength?  And how far does that get you?  Yea, I know, about that far.

When I made a New Year’s resolution a few years ago to start exercising regularly, I did pretty well at first, going often and really enjoying the time and feeling better.  After a while though I noticed my enthusiasm waning.  I had more excuses not to go and
I let them get in the way of my going.

I knew I needed a partner—someone to hold me accountable, to ask when were we going to the gym, to look forward to being with.  Our younger daughter became my partner, when she’s not at track practice. We had a great time together encouraging each other.  She helped me push away from my desk and get up and go.

We all need a partner to help us reach our goals.  Who’s your partner?

Conceive your positive life with someone who will motivate you, encourage you, and listen to life with you as you Live Positive today.