610-793-6609 michael@achievable.com

Make It a Grateful Day

May 3, 2020 | Business Owners, CEOs, Happiness, Leadership, Leadership Development

Paul J. Meyer of Leadership Management International defines attitude as “a mental disposition toward events, people, or situations that controls behavior.”

This definition clarifies why it is so important to be mindful and aware of our own thoughts and attitudes. Our thoughts CONTROL what we do, whether consciously or subconsciously.

It is equally important for those who want to live successful lives to change negative thought patterns and attitudes through continuous repetition of new, positive thought patterns.

Attitude is essentially the perspective we take when looking at the world around us. Over the past few weeks, I discussed several different ways that we, as leaders, can look at adversity in a positive light.

Today, I want to discuss one fundamental and powerful perspective that is perhaps most often overlooked – Gratitude! Adopting an attitude of gratitude is a simple step we can take during these times to change our focus from problem to solution. When we start thinking about why we are grateful, our reasons to be grateful become more and more abundant. But how does this work?

Practicing gratitude changes the structure and function of our brains. The more we express gratitude, the more grateful we become overall. Although there is not enough space here to dive deeply into the neuroscience that supports this, you can find it here.

Research also shows that expressing gratitude positively correlates with being happier, healthier, and more professionally engaged. Madhuleena Chowdhury of Positive Psychology explains that regular practice of gratitude releases negative emotions, lessens pain, helps us sleep better, improves our ability to manage stress and reduces anxiety and depression.

As leaders it is our responsibility to model positive attitudes and behavior. If we adopt an attitude of gratitude, our behaviors will show this. We will communicate gratitude to our families, employees, customers and communities not only through our words but through how we live and do business. What a wonderful world it could be if we all behaved gratefully.

Do you want to get started on the journey toward an attitude of gratitude? Click here to download the Attitude of Gratitude worksheet today. Another way to express gratitude is to Celebrate Your Success. Click here to Download.

How Do We Cultivate the Necessary Knowledge to Inspire Change?

Feb 25, 2020 | Business Owners, CEOs, Ethical Leadership, Happiness, Leadership, Leadership Development, Productivity, Success

“Knowledge is power” is a phrase credited to Francis Bacon in his Meditationes Sacrae, published in 1597.

Since then, it has been quoted by many, including Thomas Hobbes and Thomas Jefferson, and debated by others who argue that knowledge is not enough to drive action or create change. I would have to say that I agree with both sides.

Lifelong learning is one of the core values of my company, Achievement Unlimited, Inc., and also one of my own personal values. So, yes, I believe that knowledge is power because it is the primary catalyst for action and change. The question we must ask, though, is how do we cultivate the necessary knowledge to inspire change, and once attained, how do we turn that knowledge into action?

I have coached many business owners, C-level executives, and organizational leaders, departments, and teams in goal-setting and strategic planning. Goals and plans are crucial to establish direction and define achievement and success. My experience and most research on the topic show, however, that most of even the best plans fail to be executed.

Why?

Depending on who you ask, there may be different reasons why business leaders, teams, and individuals fail to meet their goals, but I have come to believe it boils down to one reason – thinking. People struggle to meet their goals because they are repeating patterns of thought that stop them from achieving, succeeding, or even just being happy.

The workshop I facilitated last week with my mentor, Peter Demarest of Axiogenics, LLC, created awareness for its participants of how their own personal and individual ways of thinking are stopping them from achieving what really matters most to them in life and in business. We learned that human beings function at their “best” only 5-15 percent of the time. This is because people are stuck in ways of thinking that are counterproductive to achieving what they truly want.

Peter wrote posts for “Tuesdays with Michael” over the past three weeks that highlighted some of the core concepts we discussed in the workshop, including The Central Question, Valuegenic Self-Leadership, and Neuro-axiology, and he dove into greater detail during the workshop about what these mean and how they apply to each individual member of the group.

Each participant took the VQ Profile assessment before coming to the workshop and received their First Steps VQ Assessment Report, which provided them with an explanation of their greatest cognitive asset and two of their most dominant cognitive biases that have limited them in their journeys in business and in life.

Eyes lit up at the revelations made, and the participants discussed how accurate the reports were. A few members shared that they read their reports to their significant others, who responded in agreement to the report. Knowledge of this information is critical in defining the actions needed to break through our limiting beliefs, and we are often very unaware of why we do the things we do that bring us great distress and stop us from realizing our full potential.

This goes back to my beginning point that “knowledge is power” but it cannot stop there. Awareness is the first step, and then the real work begins. Peter gave each participant questions they can ask themselves to help them utilize their cognitive asset to overcome their cognitive biases and create a breakthrough. One participant wrote that the workshop provided “fantastic insight and valuable steps to become a better leader.”

Are you a business owner or C-Level executive who is tired of hitting a wall while striving to achieve your business and personal goals? Are you ready to make the changes necessary to finally achieve what you want with less stress and greater personal fulfillment? The next Self-Leadership Breakthrough is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18 and begins at 8:30 AM. Click here to register.

 

Are You Working on It or Doing the Work? Part 3

Feb 18, 2020 | Business Owners, CEOs, Ethical Leadership, Happiness, Leadership, Leadership Development, Success

By Peter Demarest

In Part 1, we differentiated the concepts of “working on it” versus “doing the work.” In Part 2, we introduced the meaning of “breakthrough,” along with Valuegenic Self-Leadership and The Central Question as a power tool for creating breakthrough shifts in thinking that lead to unprecedented results.

Hopefully, you have been asking yourself this question: “What choice can I make and action can I take, in this moment, to create the greatest net value?”

Now, let’s empower you with some additional insight that can help you better answer The Central Question, so you can do GOOD Work.

GOOD Work

A core tenet of the science of axiology (value science) is a definition of “good” that is simple, universally true, and profoundly important to understand and apply: Something is GOOD to the degree that it has all the attributes required to fulfill its purpose.

If something does not have all the attributes required to fulfill its purpose, it can’t completely fulfill its purpose. A car without brakes is not a good car because it can’t fulfill the purpose of a car. Having a goal or purpose is important, but to fulfill that purpose you must have, acquire, or develop all the attributes needed to achieve that purpose or goal.

One of the most significant barriers to greater success that people, teams, collaborators, and organizations have is a lack of explicit clarity or agreement regarding purpose – the purpose of whatever they are trying to decide, do, achieve, or solve – and the value that the pursuit and achievement of that purpose can create. Yet, most conflicts center on disagreements and differing opinions about attributes while assuming everyone is on the same page regarding purpose.

Inherent in any goal or aspiration is also a value proposition. People will only pursue or do those things that they perceive have enough positive value. Of course, they are also motivated by a perceived threat or loss of value – a negative value proposition. While clarity of purpose provides direction, the value proposition provides the motivation to do the work.

To solve these problems, make it a practice to have explicit conversations with yourself and any collaborators to identify, clarify, and articulate the purpose of any endeavor.

  • What is something that you want to achieve, change, or make better in your life or work that is measurable or observable and would be unprecedented for you? This would be a meaningful goal or aspiration, big or small, short or long-term. This is a purpose.
  • What is the value of succeeding in this endeavor to both organization/team and each individual? Connect the dots. Again, if the value proposition is too low, people won’t engage in consistently doing the work.
  • What are ALL THE ATTRIBUTES required to succeed in this endeavor, and are there existing attributes that are barriers to success?
  • Where do we need to focus our time and energy?

Only after these questions are answered is it time to do the “The GOOD Work.”

“The GOOD Work” is focused on developing the attributes required to fulfill the purpose.

Doing GOOD Work is NOT about focusing on the goal/purpose/results; it’s about focusing on the development of ALL the attributes required to fulfill the purpose or achieve the desire outcome. If you develop ALL the attributes required you automatically succeed in the outcome. Goal-setting, strategizing, and making a list of actions is not enough.

One of the attributes required is the ability – the mental ability – to make good decisions and take effective actions. The No. 1 difference between people who succeed in achieving their goals and those who don’t is the ability to lead themselves in the development of the attributes required to succeed.

This brings us full circle to the difference between “working on it” and “doing the work.”

We all have some good ways of thinking and some not-so-good ways of thinking. We call them cognitive assets (good) and cognitive biases or liabilities (not so good). Research shows that 85-95 percent of our emotions, decisions, and behaviors are controlled by or highly influenced by our subconscious cognitive liabilities. It’s these not-so-good-ways of thinking that undermine our ability to stretch our comfort zone, to engage in deliberate practices, to make changes, and to develop the attributes required to achieve new things. It’s our cognitive liabilities that will prevent us from Doing GOOD Work while claiming to be “working on it.”

Breakthrough Requires Self-Leadership

A breakthrough is “a significant shift in thinking that removes barriers, reveals possibilities, and leads to unprecedented results.”

In the practice of SELF-Leadership, a significant shift in thinking means to be able to deliberately and purposefully shift your thinking to engage your best ways of thinking – your cognitive assets – rather than allowing your old habits – your cognitive liabilities – to dominate your thinking and actions (or inactions).

Asking yourself The Central Question – What choice can I make and action can I take, in this moment, to create the greatest net value? – is a powerful tool for self-leadership and at the root Doing GOOD Work. It will help your shift your thinking and support you taking actions that lead toward unprecedented results.

Moving Forward Toward Greater Success

In summary …

  • Be honest with yourself: are you “Doing GOOD Work” or just “working on it”?
  • Get clear on your purpose and its value proposition.
  • Determine what attributes you need to develop in order to succeed.
  • Focus on developing those attributes.
  • Use the Central Question to help you make better choices, take better actions, and Do Good Work.

 

You Are Better Than You Think

Jan 14, 2020 | CEOs, Happiness, Leadership, Leadership Development, Success

Guest Writer, Peter Demarest, Axiogenics, LLC

As humans, we have a strong need to control things, including other people. We tend to believe that if we’re not in control of things, then we are vulnerable to being manipulated, used, hurt, or dominated and won’t succeed in getting what we want. The brain quickly habituates thought patterns and strategies associated with self-protection, well-being, and preserving or advancing our social status. Ironically, our need to be in control of things ends up taking control of us in the form of habits.

Our subconscious habits of mind dominate 85 to 95 percent of all our decisions, emotions, actions, reactions, and interactions. Many of these habits are also rooted in self-centric cognitive biases that we have subconsciously developed over time.

These cognitive biases are also the ways of thinking that tend to cause us the most trouble in our life, ranging from emotional stresses to underperformance and from relationship problems to health issues.

How much of your life (your daily choices, actions, and emotions) do you believe are either controlled by or greatly influenced by your subconscious, self-centric, need-to-control, cognitively biased habits of mind?

Researchers estimate it to be between 85 and 95 percent. Think about that a moment. On average, we are “in control” of just five to 15 percent of our thoughts, actions, and emotions. The rest of the time, we give up control of the ONE THING we can actually control – our choices – to our bias-driven, self-centric habits of mind.

Are you getting the picture?

Our need to control creates self-centric cognitive biases
Our biases become our subconscious mental habits
Our habits end up controlling us

The truth is:

You cannot control what other people think or do
You cannot control how other people think or feel about you
You cannot control the future

The only thing you can control is your conscious choices.

But you can influence all of the above by adopting a different mindset that will enable you to make more good choices.

To reclaim the full power and freedom of choice, rather than seeking control of things outside of you (which you can’t control anyway), claim control of your own thoughts. Become a self-leader; a thought-leader of your own mind.

How? Rather than focusing on maintaining control, focus on creating value. We know from neuroscience that we’re actually at our best when we are engaged in doing good things that create greater value and not just for ourselves.

The first and simplest step in adopting a “valuegenic” mindset is to make a practice of asking ourselves a question called, The Central Question of Life, Love, and Leadership:

What choice can I make and action can I take, in this moment, to create the greatest net value?

This not a rhetorical question. Let your mind do the work to answer the question. It is far more capable of answering it than you might imagine. It’s a question to ask yourself whenever you are in any state of stress, overwhelm, upset, or confusion, indecision, or procrastination – or, I dare say, when you “feel out of control.”

Great leadership begins with self-leadership. Adopting a “valuegenic” mindset with The Central Question is the first step in regain control of your own mind and becoming a master of Self-Leadership.

If you take this practice to heart, you’ll be less controlled by the need to control and, instead, be guided by the innate wisdom you already have. Your stress levels will decrease, and your performance and happiness will increase. You’ll gain a new perspective on your life and work and will be able to make meaningful and lasting changes you likely struggled to make for a long time.

How to Develop Personal Leadership Mastery

Aug 6, 2019 | Goal Setting, Happiness, Leadership, Leadership Development, Motivation, Productivity, Strategic Planning, Success

First, you need to define what “Best Year Ever” means to you; you have to know what you want in order to achieve it.

 

Step 1.  Know what you really want in life and in business. Know what goals and outcomes you would like to achieve by the end of 2020 and know exactly what you don’t want. Create a list of personal goals and business goals for the next 12 months. Start with what  you really want to accomplish for yourself by focusing on “what really matters most in your life” so that you can say yes to that list and no to everything that is going to try to derail you from you goals program.  Create goals for personal health and well-being. Spend more time on your most important relationships. Stay connected with your kids as they grow up and/or pursue their college or post-college adventures? Pursue that special hobby or interest you have been putting off. Block more vacation time in your planner right now? This is the most important time you will spend if you want next year to be your best ever. Take time out of your busy schedule before January rolls in to recharge, relax, and re-energize with powerful and meaningful goals for next year.  Get the pen to the paper right now and start mapping our your future. 

 

Step 2. After you create your goals schedule an appointment with yourself every week to work on the action steps to move your goals forward.  Our lives are built on the foundation of these six major areas: Family & Home, Financial & Career, Mental & Educational, Physical & Health, Social & Cultural, and Spiritual & Ethical.  These areas are the foundation, the pillars that you will build a totally integrated life on. So make sure you are spending at least  1 hour a week in your plan of action. Your personal plan of action is the master plan for the rest of your life. Your planner should contain a master list of priority business and personal goals.  Success in life is the result of progressive realization of your predetermined goals. The world is infested with distractions and noise designed to take us off our goals program and put us on someone else’s goals program which is why we have to continue to work in our personal plan of action weekly and continue to crystallize our thinking about what really matters most in our life. 

 

Step 3. Develop a relentless focus on what really matters most, what is most important and significant in your personal and professional life by setting up ironclad boundaries so you are not interrupted with the tyranny of the urgent which usually isn’t really important. Focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want. Everything that isn’t important figure out a way to simplify, eliminate, delegate or outsource the activity. Then take massive action on your goals, make this a daily habit and you will be guaranteed to achieve your goals. Continue next week…………..

Written Goals Build Confidence, Add Sense of Value and Reduce Guilt

May 14, 2019 | Goal Setting, Happiness, Leadership, Motivation, Productivity, Success

There are a number of benefits to planning and goal-setting:

Written goals build confidence. When you know where you want to go and how you plan to get there, you are more confident in your ability. You develop a more positive attitude, a belief that you will be able to achieve more challenging goals. Planning gives you the tools needed to help you overcome negative conditioning by forcing you to concentrate on positive results. Your self-confidence grows and your frustration level is immediately lowered when vagueness and doubt are replaced by focus and concentration.

Written goals add a sense of values.

Goals encourage you to reflect on your values and take a look at yourself in relation to your expectations. Live your life from the inside-out based on your personal values. Making sure your goals are in alignment with your values is a critical success factor. You must have congruence between your goals and your values if you are going to achieve your goals. Written goals reduce conflict. There is a real security in knowing what you want to accomplish and how you plan to accomplish it.

Written goals help you identify conflicts among various priorities and eliminate damaging frustration.

It allows you to coordinate all of your time, effort, and energy on your goal. Written goals eliminate the possibility of unconsciously altering your goals.

Written goals help you save time.

One of the most powerful things about goal-setting is that you quickly learn to use your time constructively. When you know where you are going and how you plan to get there, you know automatically what to do next, what choices to make, and how to overcome obstacles. You move from clock time to goal time. For every minute you spend in planning and setting goals, you save 4 to 10 times that in execution.

Written goals serve as filters to eliminate extraneous demands bombarding us every day.

Written goals help you to focus and concentrate.

Once you really decide you are going to reach a goal, you can see, hear, and think of more possibilities for reaching it than you ever dreamed existed. Planning helps you visualize your future. Goals establish the direction for your attention and awareness. Focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want.

Written goals help you make good decisions.

It’s easier to decide on a progressive course of action if you have a clear picture in your mind of what you want to accomplish. Writing your goals lets you take charge of your life; it encourages you to make important decisions early, take advantage of opportunities, and eliminate weaknesses that get in your way. Goals provide a foundation for decision-making.