Most of my adult life, I have sought to be the "seeker after wisdom" that Proverbs encourages us to be. In the last six years or so, I have tried to write some of that wisdom down.  I have found quotes that encourage me, motivate me or amuse me. I have culled this from figures of history, books that I have read and even from my 5-year old granddaughter. Here are a few to mull over.

”Men are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set.  This is true of earthly as well as heavenly things.  Even the man whose object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life.” James Allen

“An accountability relationship is one in which a Christian gives permission to another believer to look into his life for purposes of questioning, challenging, admonishing, advising, encouraging and otherwise providing input in ways that will help the individual live according to the Christian principles that they both hold.” Alan Medinger

“Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness.” John Stott

"Fear has never been a good adviser, neither in our personal lives nor in our society." Angela Merkel, German chancellor

“Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“In life we suffer two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.

The pain of discipline weights ounces.  The pain of regret weighs tons.” Jim Rohn, businessman and philosopher

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.” -- John C. Maxwell

“Opportunity is missed by most because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

To dare is to loose one’s footing momentarily.  NOT TO DARE is to lose oneself.

If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Here’s to the crazy ones.  The misfits.  The rebels.  The troublemakers.  The round pegs in the square holes.  The ones who see things differently…Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

JUST DO IT!

 --Soren Kirkegaard, T.S. Eliot, Mahatma Gandhi, Steve Jobs, Nike

“Praise is like sunlight to the warm human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, while most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow reluctant to give our fellow the warm sunshine of praise.”

I Ain’t Much Baby – but I’m All I Got Psychologist Jess Lair

"You can get everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want." Zig Ziglar

Daniel Pink's "Drive" Unveils Surprises on Motivation

I find it interesting when a business practice that we know  to be true –it’s completely logical after all— turns out to be utterly false.   We know the carrot and stick approach works in business settings.  You reward the behavior you want more of and you punish the behavior that you want less of.  Wrong! In his book “Drive,” Daniel Pink provides the research to show that this approach is fundamentally flawed and has been proven wrong repeatedly by research.

 

Pink points out the seven deadly flaws of the carrots and stick approach

1.       It can extinguish extrinsic motivation

2.       It can diminish performance

3.       it can crush creativity

4.       It can crowd out good behavior

5.       It  can encourage cheating, shortcuts and unethical behavior

6.       It can become addictive

7.       It  can foster short-term thinking

So what is the answer to motivation in business? Pink breaks it down into three basic drives. “Autonomy—the desire to direct our own lives

Mastery—the urge to get better and better at something that matters

Purpose –the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.”

In the book Pink does a masterful job of proving his case, then citing examples of modern companies, who have learned these principle and are trying to apply them to the workforce of today.  The results have been astounding.   Other companies are still using carrots and sticks and wonder why they are unsuccessful.

Learn about companies with household names like Google and Best Buy have been using it as have smaller firms like Meddius and Atlassian.  Even schools are using these principles with great results.

I invite you to read the book and find out if you are a Type I or a Type X.  Once you find out, it can make a big change in what you get done and how much you enjoy it.

From Darren Hardy’s “Daily Mentoring.”

You’ve heard me multiple times stress that in order to achieve BIG SUCCESS…you have to be willing to go for BIG FAILURES. But are you really doing it?

Let me remind you…
Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star because his editor felt he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

Oprah Winfrey was publicly fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore for getting “too emotionally invested in her stories.”

Steven Spielberg was rejected by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts multiple times.

In one of Fred Astaire‘s first screen tests, an executive wrote: “Can’t sing. Can’t act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little.”

Vera Wang failed to make the 1968 US Olympic figure-skating team. Then she became an editor at Vogue, but was passed over for the editor-in-chief position.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers.

R.H. Macy had a series of failed retail ventures throughout his early career before he finally launched Macy and Co., today known as Macy’s.

                               Darren Hardy, author of “The Compound Effect.”

Increasing Productivity by 10: Goggle Has Some Proven Ideas

                                                                 

It's called Skunk Works. Already heard of it? Google didn't come up with the idea; one of the shining examples happened in 1943, when German jet fighters first appeared in World War II. The Allies needed a response fast.
Lockheed's chief engineer, Kelly Johnson fielded the call from the Department of Defense and learned of this critical mission. He recruited a small group of his brightest engineers and mechanics, gave them total freedom and walled them off from the rest of Lockheed's bureaucracy.
Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler tell the story (and today's equivalent) in "Bold."
The Skunk Works delivered the first U.S. military jet in 143 days. Diamonds and Kotler stated ironically, "In a typical military project, contractors can't even get their paperwork signed in that window." The Skunk Works went on to produce some of the world's most famous aircraft.
Kelly Johnson had 14 rules for producing these "miracles"; Google has slimmed it down to eight. These rules are core to today's exponential entrepreneur.

1. Focus on the user. It must be a customer-centric business.
2. Share everything. In today's hyperconnected world, it's critical to allow the crowd to help you innovate and build on each other's ideas.
3. Look for ideas everywhere. Crowdsourcing can provide you with incredible ideas and insights.
4. Think big, but start small. You can start a company on day one that affects a small group, but aim to positively impact a billion people within a decade.
5. Never fail to fail. Fail frequently, fail fast and fail forward.
6. Spark with imagination, fuel with data. Agility required lots of access to new and often wild ideas and lots of good data to separate the worthwhile from the wooly. Successful start-ups today use machine learning and algorithms to help them analyze data to make decisions.
7. Be a platform. AirBnb, Uber, Instagram are all platform plays.
8. Have a mission that matters. It doesn't have to be about winning a world war like the first skunk works. But when the going gets hard, will you push on or give up?  Passion is fundamental to forward progress.

Bold: How to Go Big, Achieve Success, and Impact the World, by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler.
Published by Simon and Schuster, Copyright 2013. This book explores the exponential technologies that are disrupting today's Fortune 500 companies and enabling upstart entrepreneurs to go from "I've got an idea" to "I run a billion dollar company."

LinkedIn the Sandler Way

Using LinkedIn, you can become a Master of Social Selling

Sandler.com/LinkedInSecrets

1.       Change your mindset

·         Turn prospects into sales appointments

·         How do I take “real networking” and turn it into social selling?

2.       Create a client attracting profile

·         Attract prospects to yourself

·         Get a quality picture for your profile.  People make up their mind in 7 seconds if they like you or not.

3.       Getting connected

·         Rotate new material into your profile every 6 months

·         Look at the “People also viewed” section.  This is like free prospects

·         Advanced search.  Save the search.  Then LinkedIn will send you a weekly message with new people. Again, free prospects.

·         90% do not really need the LinkedIn Premium that costs $79/mo

4.       Communicating

·         When you are asking for an introduction, provide a template for them.  Do the heavy lifting for them

·         If you respond to a request within 5 minutes, your chances of connecting with them increase 100x

·         InMail is read 7 times more than a traditional email message. People know it’s not spam, so it gets through

·         Use short subject lines

·         Pain list should only be 3 or 4 items. Then close with a question.  “When can I call you?” “Does this make sense?” “Have any of these issues been a problem?”

·         Don’t try to be someone on LinkedIn that you are not in real life

·         Get right to the point

5.       Dos and don’ts

·         Don’t beg for an appointment. Get invited in

·         Qualify before you present

·         Sell with integrity

·         Visit Sandler.com for another free e-book. Why Sales People Fail (sandler.com/WSF

6.       Top 10 Prospecting behaviors

·         Seek these connections before meetings; ask for referrals

·         Create a saved search for 10x the # of sales you need and pursue introductions

·         Follow “likes” comments and the people who viewed your profile

·         Schedule your social media posts

·         Send some messages to cold contacts. Ex. InMail message more “cold” Connect request is warmer

·         Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone

·         Research off line leads to find conversation starters

·         Comment on birthdays, job changes, work anniversaries

How much time should you spend on LinkedIn per day? 30-45 minutes should be plenty

7 Habits Book Calls for Steep Learning Curve

I am about one-third through “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. Now I know why it is considered one of the classics of personal development. It is not just a book, but also a journey of self discovery.

I have learned the first two habits: First, be proactive. Second, begin with the end in mind. 

Before taking the reader further, he emphasizes the importance of creating a personal mission statement. This creation requires careful analysis and probably many rewrites. The result is your personal constitution, the expression of your vision and values. It becomes the standard by which we can measure everything in our life.

I have a lot of thinking to do as I read this book and work through some of its penetrating questions. Covey places particular emphasis on translating his princples into concrete actions and habits. “Habits are powerful factors in our lives,” Covey writes. “Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily express our character and produce or effectiveness…or ineffectiveness.”