Posts Tagged ‘change’

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Morning Mojo: Get Comfortable with Change

By Tom Tognoli | November 28th, 2011 0 Comments

Does any of this sound familiar?

“…sounds like a great idea, I will get started tomorrow.” Yeah right…like that is really going to happen…just like the last thousand times he said “I will start tomorrow.”

“Wow, I can see how that will have a hugely positive impact on my life, but I just don’t have time to deal with making the necessary changes right now…I will try and implement that next month when things settle down.” We all know things never “settle down.”

“Why is it that no matter what I seem to do…not matter how much I work or how hard I try, I can never get ahead in my F5 (Faith, Family, Friends Fitness, Finance)? I am trying hard every day, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

Here is the first thing we all need to get real clear on…no matter how hard we try, if we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get what we have always gotten. So, to get more of what we want in our lives, the key is not doing more of what we are currently doing harder, but doing different…changing the way we look at things….the way we do things. Sounds easy…right? NOT!!!!

Getting comfortable with change does not happen overnight…it is something we need to train ourselves to get comfortable with. Most of the things we do in our life and our thoughts are a routine that have been engrained in us over YEARS. So, we plow on, mindlessly doing the same old things in the same old way. Whether these routines or thoughts are good or bad, like a drop of water which continuously hits on a rock, our habits create a hole or a rut. And the longer the drop of our habits hit the rock, the deeper the hole. Over time as that hole gets deeper and deeper, the harder it is to get out of the rut when we want to make a change.

So, why haven’t we forced ourselves out of the rut before now? Most of the time we don’t change because we are afraid…it makes us uncomfortable…makes us feel exposed…or we are just plain lazy. And the older we get the harder it is to make changes because we tend to become less and less flexible. And because we have been doing things one way for such a long time, the hole in the rock becomes the size of the Grand Canyon. So, the key is to train ourselves to get comfortable with change…someone who actually embraces change…someone who actually gets a rush from being innovative and doing it different.

Start challenging your routines. Stop running into the brick wall. Pause…Think. Find a new way that goes around the wall, or maybe over it. Rest assured, the new way is there. It does exist. Changing your habits can itself become common place. The first time you defy “your way” and climb out of your rut it nearly kills you…the second time, it’s real tough…the third time, it’s merely hard. And eventually, it becomes, if not easy, then reasonably comfortable. Your confidence grows, and the tyrant loses a large part of its hold on you. Then, the magic of having a life that is unbelievable pure magic starts to unfold!!!

Make it a powerful week!!!!!

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Thoughts on Leadership: Stop Fighting Change

By Gino Blefari | September 22nd, 2011 0 Comments

Successful leadership requires many skills, but one of the most important is learning how to deal with change. Change is a funny thing. We all know it is inevitable, but we often resist it. Great leaders, however, look at change and embrace it. They understand that change, though scary and stressful, creates opportunities. Change can offer a challenge to be more creative, flexible and strategic.

When thinking about change, I often turn to Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. Mike Ferry originally introduced me to his inspiring leadership traits. Welch is one of the most well known “big businessmen” of his generation and offers a lot of insight into how successful leaders deal with change. Welch is also interesting to me because when he first joined GE in 1960, he worked as a junior engineer in my hometown of Pittsfield, Mass., making $10,500 a year.

Many may not know this, but Welch was almost fired from GE because he once blew the roof off the factory. Then after a year of hard work, he was not happy with the $1,000 raise he was offered. He felt unappreciated and dissatisfied with GE’s strict bureaucracy after learning that everyone in his department received the same $1,000 raise. He almost quit GE at the time, but was talked out of it by a higher-level supervisor.

Welch went on to be named vice president of GE in 1972. He moved his way up the ranks and eventually was named CEO in 1981. As CEO, he took apart a lot of the earlier management team put together by his predecessor, creating real change from day one.

I model my leadership style after Welch because he focused on the principle, “Embrace change; don’t fear it.” Why fear something you know will happen again and again? That’s no way to live, and definitely no way to run a business.

Change keeps everyone alert and on their toes. It’s the reality of business. Welch was able to turn a struggling, slow-moving corporate giant into a dynamic and growing company. The goal may be the same, never-ending growth but he said that the tools and methods were constantly changing. He encouraged his colleagues to never stop thinking about the need for change. Only through “massive change” could G.E. win, something Welch firmly believed in.

The leaders of many organizations refuse to see the handwriting on the wall and just hope that things will get better. Yet, wishful thinking is no substitute for a strategic plan. Lasting leaders not only come up with real solutions and partnerships, but they also constantly motivate and inspire team members to get past their fears of change and rise to the challenge.

Change isn’t easy. We all seek stability and predictability. But today more than ever change keeps hitting us in the face just when we think we can afford to get comfortable. So stop fighting change. It is no use and complaining isn’t a practical option.

Ask yourself: How are YOU leading your team as well as yourself and facing the constant changes in the “maze” of your life?

The following are each great books written by Welch that I recommend all leaders read for inspiration and insight: “Straight from the Gut,” “Winning, Jack Welch and the GE Way,” “Jack Welch and the 4 E’s of Leadership,” “29 Leadership Secrets,” and “Jack Welch Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World’s Greatest Business Leader.”

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Thoughts on Leadership | Leaders Know How to Attract Attention

By Gino Blefari | September 1st, 2011 0 Comments

To accomplish anything in life as a leader, you’re likely going to need help from other people. Regardless of how talented or accomplished you are, you can’t always assume that you can count on attracting and retaining the attention of others. It will be more and more challenging and rewarding to hold onto the attention of those who matter to you.

Attention provides leverage. The more people leaders can attract and motivate to join them on a challenging quest or initiative, the more impact they are likely to achieve. So, what are effective ways to attract and retain the kind of attention that helps leaders to address the challenges they face? Here are four steps that build on each other.

1. Embrace mystery - Frame the more difficult problems that are relevant to you and need to be solved. Help people to understand why these are such significant problems and why so many people have been unsuccessful in trying to solve them. It probably will not attract the people looking for easy answers, but it can attract those who are naturally curious and looking for stimulating challenges.

2. Focus inquiry – Don’t try to suggest answers. Frame interesting questions instead. Help people gain perspective by posing questions that intrigue and motivate them to start investigating the mysteries that lie ahead.

3. Excite the imagination – Provide some “what if?” scenarios to illustrate the possibilities that await those who manage to come up with creative answers. Paint the pictures but make it clear these are only pictures. Stimulate people to pursue the questions with a lot of energy and creativity.

4. Be authentic – If you are not genuinely engaged in addressing these problems yourself, you will not be able to sustain the attention and effort of others to come up with creative solutions. On the other hand, if you are on a quest yourself, leading by example, you could have a contagious effect and the encounters you have can help both sides to learn from each other.

Do these techniques actually work? Well, think of how Martin Luther King excited and mobilized a broad group of people to tackle some very challenging social problems. On a completely different level, one leading tech company in Silicon Valley regularly attracts the attention of the venture capital community by sharing its most difficult technology problems and suggesting that they would buy the start-ups that come up with creative solutions to these problems. Or look at the way professional astronomers have mobilized a global network of passionately engaged amateurs to learn more about the vast universe beyond this planet.

This kind of attention is priceless and powerful. All leaders need to find ways to generate it and harness it. This is not just an opportunity, but increasingly an unavoidable obligation. Leaders are all experiencing increasing economic pressure as individuals and institutions. In this kind of environment, leaders not only need leverage, but also need to more rapidly improve their performance.

Leaders get better faster by working with others. To do this, they first need to attract their attention. If they fail to attract that attention, they will not get better faster in an increasingly competitive global economy, and they could be overlooked. That is why attention is becoming more valuable at the same time that it is becoming rare.

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Wednesday Wellness | Practice Perfect Technique.

By Tammy Parkinson | August 31st, 2011 0 Comments

Bonnie Kathleen Blair (born March 18, 1964 in Cornwall, New York) is a retired American speed skater. She is one of the top skaters of her time, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, and in her Olympic career won five gold medals and one bronze medal.

Once interviewed, she indicated she never trained for power or speed, but technique.  If she perfected her technique, then when race day came, she always knew she would skate her best.

In our daily habits, are we perfecting our technique, or are we always hoping to win the race, by being faster and stronger at any cost?

I’ve learned that when we push hard to “win” we usually compromise safety and often can injure ourselves at a devastating cost.

If we can tighten up our finesse, our technique by how we train, such as running in better alignment with our body, or slowing down our yoga practice to stretch our muscles safely instead of “pushing” the pose, or even fine tuning our “practice” of how we order our meals at restaurants, then we will get into such a rhythm of technique that when “race day” comes, everything else will fall into line safely and efficiently.

Since I learned this “mantra” of Bonnie Blair, I have given great thought to how I train when I water ski, cycle, workout with my trainer and when I practice yoga.  It was a powerful statement for me to train a different way…in all areas of my life.  I hope this can offer you some insight to your daily habits as well and as some say… “slow down to speed up”!

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Thoughts on Leadership: How to Turn Failure into Success

By Gino Blefari | August 25th, 2011 0 Comments

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career; I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over in my life. And that’s why I succeed.”
-Michael Jordan, 2006

Failure. We all experience it. Most of us see failure as a negative thing, which makes sense; it doesn’t feel good to fail. We all want to succeed and failure feels like a setback to that goal. What we don’t realize is that failure presents an opportunity to learn, grow and succeed. Check out Michael Jordan’s “Failure” Nike Commercial.

Michael Jordan is a fun example to look at. When most people think about this basketball legend, they’re not immediately thinking about how he didn’t make the varsity basketball team his sophomore year in high school. They’re not thinking about the times he lost the game-winning shot. They’re thinking about his achievements: six-time NBA champion, five-time MBA MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star, two-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner, Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.

Michal Jordan’s success was real. People like to say that he was born a “gifted” basketball player, that Mark Zuckerburg was born a technology genius, and that Martin Luther King was a born leader. What we fail to realize, though, is that none of these successes were born that way. No one is born to play basketball, create a social media phenomenon, or to be a legendary leader.

Turning failure into success is hard work. It takes dedication and vision. When I was a brand new realtor my first coach Tom Hopkins taught me an important philosophy on failure and rejection that has resonated throughout my entire real estate career. He said “I never see failure as failure, but only as a learning experience. I never see failure as failure, but only as the feedback I need to change course in my direction. I never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to improve my sense of humor. I never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to practice my techniques and perfect my performance. I never see failure as failure, but only as the game I must play to win!”

Learn from some of the greatest champions on earth how to take the reigns and turn losses into wins – adapted from Adam Appleson’s book, “7 Steps to Turn ‘Failure’ Into Success:”

  1. Grin and bear it.
    When Michael Jordan came across rejection, he met it by practicing more.
  2. Take a time-out.
    The greatest ideas were founded when men and women were away from their usual routines. Albert Einstein was on vacation in the Apennine Mountains when we wondered what would happen if a ray of light became imprisoned.
  3. Assess whether your current plans are realistic.
    If things aren’t happening as fast as you’d anticipated, by the deadline you set for yourself, the deadline may not have been realistic. Don’t be afraid to make new plans and pursue them.
  4. Get support.
    Have a team behind you to get you through the rough times and keep you motivated!
  5. Play a game called “15 Ways…”
    Grab a sheet of paper and brainstorm 15 ways you can overcome whatever obstacle is standing between you and your goals. The first five are usually pretty obvious, but the last 10 are usually a bit harder to come up with, and often surface the innovative solutions you hadn’t thought about already.
  6. Pick a hero.
    Every time you fail and want to give up, ask yourself what your hero would do, then go do it!
  7. Go out and execute every day.
    Commit to doing one thing for your dreams every day. You know the saying, “genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.”

True leaders do not fear failure; they know how to use failure to their advantage. Like Michael Jordan said, he has failed over and over again, and that is why he succeeds. Take chances and don’t be afraid to fail, it could be the secret to your success!

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Wednesday Wellness: The Mentally Tough Shall Prevail…

By Tammy Parkinson | August 24th, 2011 0 Comments

What differentiates someone who succeeds in life versus one who doesn’t? Luck? Genes? Money? Well, maybe for some, but I believe that those who are the “toughest” are the ones who ultimately succeed.

Now, when I say tough, I’m not referring to physical strength. Rather, I’m talking about mental toughness, or mental fortitude. Fortitude is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “Calm Courage”, and it takes a great deal of “calm courage” to succeed–whether it is on the physical playing field, or the playing field of life.

There are some people who are innately strong–both physically and mentally. Take the Tarahumara Tribe of Indians, who are known to run for days on end, in the grueling heat, traversing treacherous landscapes as a way of life, and as a way to have “fun.” Can you hear me laughing out loud? Yup. This is indeed fun for them, and they live their lives to run and run to live. In fact, Christopher Mc Dougall wrote a book about this band of people called, “Born to Run.”

But what about the rest of us, the mere mortals who find running two miles, or even two blocks, a daunting task? What makes us different than the Tarahumara?

Well, it turns out that the only thing that separates us is our mental fortitude. Indeed, these calm people run because they are not just physically strong, but they are MENTALLY strong. And we can all glean a HUGE lesson from this.

We all face challenges in life–some of us want to lose weight; some want to run our first marathon, 10K, 5K or simply walk a mile; some want to gain upper body strength; and some want to come back from injuries–ranging from near-crippling to something perhaps more simple like a sprained ankle. Whatever your particular challenge may be, in order to overcome it will require not just strength of body, but strength of mind.

Why is this so?

For me, I spent nearly 10 years racing endurance events ranging from mere marathons to Ironman distance triathlons–a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run, or a marathon. And yes, they were all in one day. And yes, they all followed each other sequentially. And yes, we “raced” to finish–we competed not simply completed. And how did we do it? We persevered.

From these years, I learned that I have far more fortitude than I ever thought I had. There were many times when I “beat” men and women who were stronger than me physically, but not stronger mentally–I never, ever gave up or give up. And I have carried this very important lesson into other areas of my life, so that when I tore my Achilles and chose not to run for a year (after much agony), and even when I’ve faced financial adversity, or break-ups or the loss of loved ones, I’ve KNOWN that I have enough “strength” to get through anything, because I will not give up. I have that calm courage.

The truth is, we all have that calm courage. Sometimes, we just don’t realize that we have it and that we can use it ANYTIME we want.

How do we persevere? Just like how we finish a marathon–by putting one foot in front of the other. Over and over and over again….You can do IT, whatever IT is. Simply call upon that calm courage and persevere. And I guarantee you, you will succeed.

Written by Stacia Carney
CPT Body Firm Los Gatos, CA

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Wednesday Wellness: Change is Life

By Tammy Parkinson | December 8th, 2010 0 Comments

Have you ever unexpectedly had life hit you upside the head and all of a sudden, everything has changed? Quite possibly, a change which you didn’t see coming, a change you didn’t want, expect and were quite upset about?

When this happens, we (most of us, but not all of us) dwell in a state of unacceptance and frustration. All we want is what we had, the way it used to be. We look back at “before” and everything seemed perfect once we look in a review mirror of what we no longer have. Isn’t it funny how life works that way?

Have you ever thought there’s actually a boring aspect of a life that never changes? We wouldn’t grow, get inspired, inspire others, reach new potentials, and learn.

I realize not every change is good, however if you look for it, even the worst change can bring you new perspectives to help you become more brilliant. The key, of course, is to seek it out and be open to what is ahead instead of what is behind us.

Whatever might ring true to you, look at a change you are either going through or recently went through, and shift your perspective and see what change can bring you instead of what you have left behind.

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Monday Mojo: 23 more summers, then I will be 70

By Tom Tognoli | September 20th, 2010 0 Comments

One of the biggest things that holds us back from going for it – from making a change and really going after what we want, is tomorrow.  That word, tomorrow, is a killer.

Imagine if you lived your life like you could not do it tomorrow. It was either do it now or forget about it. My guess is all of our lives would look a lot different – different for the better would be my guess.  I was sharing this thought in a sales meeting last week when I was really trying to rally the troops and drive home the point that the clock of life is ticking and we don’t have forever to “do it”.  I was challenging them to quit waiting and just go for it NOW!

Why do we procrastinate on doing what we know we need to do to get what we want? It’s because we live life like we have forever to do it…to make the change…to jump in.  Well, we don’t.

Here is what I shared with my team last week to get them to realize we don’t have forever. I am 46 years old and I have a lot of life ahead of me to look forward to, right? I have every intention of living to be 100+, but I only have 23 summers left and I will be 70.

Holy Shmolly!

Now when I think of being 70 it seems so far away, but when you think of it in the form of summers left until 70, it’s not that much is it.  I don’t have much time to accomplish everything I want to, so I better get to work! Heck, with my kids Nick (11) and Tommy (13), I only have 7 and 4 summers respectfully left until they graduate high school and are legally adults. I better not waste any time!

So, how many summers do you have left to accomplish your goals? How many summers do you have left until you are 70?  Time flies by – don’t wait.  We only have a blink of an eye on this planet to do it.  Look at your life in the form of summers you have to accomplish your goals and it might help you realize you can’t wait to do it until tomorrow.

Think of this. In 125 years no one who is currently on the planet will still be here. The billions of people currently on this planet will be gone and it will be all new people.  So what great deeds, memories, and legacy are we going to leave behind?  Get to work on making it happen NOW!

Now or never.

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Wednesday Wellness: Shed Some Leaves

By Tammy Parkinson | September 15th, 2010 0 Comments

Fall is in the air and I have mixed emotions about it. The crispness at night time feels fresh; exciting even, but I know that winter is on fall’s heels and frankly, it seems like it barely stopped raining! The bigger question is: What can I do about it? Well, I certainly know I can’t control the weather, I can’t stop the sun from rising later or setting sooner, and I might have a hard time packing up and moving to Hawaii for the next 5 months. So…just as with many other situations in life, we can dig our heels in, feel frustrated and wish it were different, or we can create a way to enjoy the changes life brings us.

In nature, fall represents change, letting go (shedding) our leaves so to speak so we can create the space to renew and refresh. That, in itself is exciting! So, for me, this year, fall is a metaphor for looking at some dusty habits or belongings I have and shedding them, making room for new and exciting habits I haven’t created a priority in my life to cultivate.

As I am writing this, all of a sudden, I’m feeling a little excited to see winter, as that’s when the clearing happens to create new priorities!

Want to join me?!

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Wednesday Wellness: Pivot

By Tammy Parkinson | August 18th, 2010 0 Comments

Have you ever felt stuck? Not just a little bit, but a whole lot? Try as you might, and though you want to, and know that you should, you find that you just can’t get unstuck? To make matters worse, you get frustrated with yourself because you just can’t get out of your own way? So you find yourself even MORE stuck in trying to get unstuck. Can’t you almost feel the aggravation seeping out of your pores?

Frustrated? Most people are! But, what if you were able to “pivot?”

I’ve written about it many times. Basically, it is all about turning a negative thought or situation into a sort of silver lining and finding a way to receive something positive out of your negative experience.

But what happens when you haven’t been able to get into the right frame of mind to pivot? You know you want to, you know you should, but you are in that in between place of leaving the negative thoughts and embracing the positive ones and can’t quite reach the positive place your mind believes you are supposed to be?

We get stuck in the aggravation of the “process” and become impatient in wanting to reach the pivot. We find it’s not our habit – yet – and we leave one negative place to end up simply creating another negative experience. Therein lies the never ending cycle of creating the negative course of action.

But what happens if we learn how to embrace the act of change and accept the metamorphosis and accept that the in between is actually an integral part of the process? Quite possibly, the pivot we are searching for or the “expectation” we have decided upon, isn’t what we are meant to experience. Instead, maybe it’s the process itself which is our pivot, and the lesson of that in between stage is our teacher.

Heavy stuff for a Wednesday Wellness, but if you are in the “middle ground” and frustrated that “it” hasn’t quite happened for you yet, consider looking at what you can learn from the stage you find yourself at and you might be supposed to find that you already arrived at your pivot.

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