I believe that one of the characteristics of the human race - possibly the one that is primarily responsible for its course of evolution - is that is has grown by creatively responding to failure.   — Glen Seaborg (1912-1999) American Chemist, Chairman Atomic Energy Commission

“Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission.”    ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes it helpful to have a physical reminder of our emotional commitment to avoid letting toxic things into our bodies, our minds and our lives.   Of course we wouldn’t eat poison and would never knowingly drink it.  So why would we ever listen to it, look at it or even waste time thinking about it. 

BLOCK IT!

Kirk Out

I found this in my inbox this morning… just waiting to be found and shared.  It is from a very interesting guy I met years ago who founded something called “The Ripples Project.”  Explore the extraordinary power of tiny actions.  http://theripplesproject.org/

It’s the times you feel like you’ve lost everything that you find everything you didn’t know you had.  -source unknown, shared by Zack W. via Facebook

Adversity is like a strong wind.  It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.  -Arthur Golden, shared by Sarah in Fond du Lac, WI

It often seems like my #1 job on this planet is to remind us all to hang in there during inevitable challenges that we encounter. I’ve learned from experience and from supporting others that the tougher challenges often yield larger opportunities for growth. The toughest races offer the biggest prizes, right? Life can be exceedingly difficult, and we sometimes have to get to the finish line to find what we lost and what we gained.
To my peeps that are facing difficulties right now, HANG IN THERE! Remember to BREATHE, remember to ask for help when necessary, and remember that we often
fail to realize how TOUGH we are until we’re tested. YOU’VE GOT THIS!

Paul, The Ripples Guy

p.s. If life is going fairly well for you right now, keep an eye out for others who are currently struggling. They might need a hand or a hug or both.

One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears - by listening to them. — Dean Rusk

I heard that…and I agree!  As we seek first to understand we dramatically increase our ability to influence any outcome.  Kirk Out

Responses to yesterday’s T4D question “When is Less More?” were both profound and entertaining.   I never in my life dreamed that they would contain references to a DJ named Les Ismore, or Dust Bunnies or Elvis…but they did.  Thank you for your responses all of which are available on the blog site…with just a sampling of them offered here for your shared enjoyment.

Less sarcasm, cynicism and negative tone leads to more energy, enthusiasm, creativity and stronger relationships. ~ Steve

Less talking can lead to more listening.  This is especially helpful when managing employees or working with customers~  Stephen

Less is more when you finally realize that you already have everything you need to be happy with your life.  Bill LaVelle

Less is More…I think of “Do-ers”.  What I mean by this is, when you have a lot of talk/meetings about an issue but no one is doing anything about it.  No one is taking initiative instead they are wasting time and effort expanding on the problem.  Less talking, more doing.  Take initiative, Dog Poop Initiative is a good example :).  Your average work force would rather see you out on the floor, working with them, attempting to fix the issue vs just talking about it. So now I am going to do Less typing and more Work! ~ Chuck  (Thanks for the book plug Chuck

Less blaming and more personal accountability ( btw thanks for putting me onto the book QBQ) Less TV = more everything - family time, reading, playing, living Less stuff = more appreciating what we have Less me/I =more we/us ~ Leah Cashman

Wasn’t it Elvis who proclaimed “A little less talk and a lot more action?”  Shouldn’t we all have less analyzing/thinking/debating and lot more doing/executing? ~ Charles

(this one was very unique) Les Ismore was my radio DJ name back in the mid 90s.  “Less talk…More Music….now when I train it’s…”Less talk…More Doing with a little music mixed in to keep it light.”  ~ Chris

 Less money leads to more creative resourcefulness. Less time spent doing things like searching for dust bunnies means more spending time with friends, family, and in my case, in the garden.   Vernette

Less (INSERT NEGATIVE THING HERE) is more room for (INSERT POSITIVE THING HERE). For example, less anger equals more room for happiness.  ~ Jason

Less doesn’t always equal a “good” part of more…. Examples:

Less Love=More Hate

Less Money=More Debt

Less Health=More Disease

Less Trees=More Pavement

Less Recycling=More Garbage

Less Focus on Quality=More Mistakes

Less Information=More Assumptions

Change starts with one. I know that. And I’m with Charles who quoted Elvis. Let’s DO MORE so we can have LESS unrest for us and those we love ~ Keri (See Keri’s full comment on the blog site - yesterdays post)

Less is more when it involves: criticism, micro-management, sarcasm, envy, opinion-sharing, blame, grandstanding, email (including “reply all”) , doing company work on the weekend, negative self talk, social climbing, mean-spiritedness, losing un-used vacation time at the end of the year

Most of all, less is more when it comes to waiting to tell (and show) the people we care about how much they truly mean to us. Make it an awesome day!  ~Jim Schuster, PMP

Less is More - I think of the Bucket List - all those things you want to do “someday” but never take the time to do it.  Suddenly you are told you have Less time on this Earth than you thought - then you make More time to do the things that are really important.   All the other excess stuff that filled your life and time are no longer important. ~
LeeAnn

Less is more when the “more” makes no difference to the outcome. Example, does having more things really get you anywhere? Does saying more really prove your point? Do you need to shower someone with gifts, just to show them you love them? Will it make them love you more?  Simplicity is a wonderful thing. ~ Kate

Thank you again for sharing these wonderful bits of wisdom…. and without question this post would be less without more Elvis. Enjoy!

Is it?

Today I am inviting you to consider this very simple question.

“When is Less More?”

If you have a moment to share your answer I would love and appreciate it.   www.kirkweisler.com/t4d in the comment box

Kirk out

“If you possess something but you can’t give it away, then you don’t possess it… it possesses you.” —Frank Sinatra

Do you own stuff or does it own you?  What would you do, what could you do if everything you owned fit in a backpack?

I am reading 3 books right now…all about decluttering, simplifying, and minimalst living.  A few things have inspired me to read in this direction.  First and foremost my wife Rebecca who is a “chucker” who is anti-clutter and loves simplicity.  Next is the story of Ian Usher who sold everything he owned on e-bay… including the URL to his website that said he was selling everything he owned on E-bay.  http://www.ianusher.com/  And the story of Betsy and Warren Talbot a couple who wrote the book Dream, Save, Do about how they put together a plan to sell everything and live out their dreams with backpacks and passports.   http://www.marriedwithluggage.com/our-story/

Am I going to live out of a backpack?  No - but could I live with less stuff?  YES.  Rebecca and I just sold our beautiful home in Atlanta.  We are ready for a new adventure in an new city.   And as we began talking about where that might be - we also naturally began talking about what type of home we wanted to live in.  With Brittany going off to college and Jake soon to follow we knew we no longer needed or wanted a home with 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 5 acres and allnthe upkeep that comes with it.  (Though I will miss my garden, bees and chickens).   In fact Rebecca said, she would like to dramatically simplify….with a focus on more experiences and far less stuff.

When I walked through the house asking myself what is in that I really just had to have… the answer was “not much”… certainly not as much as it holds.  I could even let go of most of books (maybe) 

I don’t think we will be able to reduce it down to a couple of back packs like the Talbots…but what if we could?   Someone wise once said, “There is genius in simplicity”.  What do you need to remove from your life to find simplicity and uncover so you can recover your genius?

Kirk Out

PS by the way - the 3 Books are Dream Save Do , Getting Rid of It, and The Joy of Less (but I wouldn’t buy the Joy of Less again now that I have read it)

Progress in every age results only from the fact that there are some men and women who refuse to believe that what they know to be right cannot be done.
– Russell W. Davenport

Often you read a quote like this and you might immediately think of famous examples of Edison and the Light Bulb, Roger Bannister and the 4 minute mile, or putting a man on the moon.  This is of course a natural thing to do… at least for me it is.   But the trick is to personalize the principle and to attach it to a dream, vision or goal in your own life.  To break your own 4 minute mile barrier, take your own “first step” into a brave new world, and illuminate your life with innovation realized by believing not just wishing and by doing not just dreaming.

Example 1 - I wanted to have more energy (like I did when I was younger) and more creativity and clarity of mind .  I believed that I could…and that belief was strengthened through study.  The research strengthened the resolve and I knew it was right.  It was the right time (to act), it was the right thing (for me) and it was the right thing for my family and my future.  I juiced, it worked.  Believe it, Achieve it.

Example 2 - Back in the day (before I was a speaker, trainer, consultant) I worked in the world of “outsourced call centers”.  The reputation of this industry was low margin, low pay, low morale, and high turnover.  We refused to believe that what the industry accepted as the norm had to be the norm.   We instead believed we could create something much better by being smart and doing what was right. Treating people right with higher pay, better culture, a corporate university and more ownership for their outcomes. We did things for our people that no other outsourcer had done..   We did this not to prove a point…but because we knew it was right.  And the results of those right things were great culture, low turnover and the highest engagement scores in the industry. The other unforseen result was that the experience would be the foundation of everything I do today in my work with leaders and culture.

What can you do today that has the potential to improve all of your tomorrows?

What do you “KNOW” is right for you? What do you need to “refuse to believe” so you can make progress and achieve?

What ever it is… you better believe it or you will never acheive it.

Kirk Out

Next week I am doing some training in the great state of Utah.  I have programs on the evenings of Mon, Tues, all day on Wed with a flight home on Thursday.  If any of my Utah friends would like a heavily discounted customized half day session for your peeps on Monday, Tuesday or Thurs morning… just let me know. (May 20-23)

The week after that I am in Phoenix Monday- Thurs same offer to my friends there.

I am a big fan and student of Jim Rohn. What follows are a few quick highlights of lessons he learned from one of his mentors, Mr. Shoaff. This is followed by a few of his thoughts on leadership. I hope you enjoy his wisdom as Ih have.

Jim says….  My first mentor, Mr. Shoaff, over a five-year period of time before he died at age 49, taught me some extraordinarily simple things. He only went through the 9th grade in school. He never finished high school, never went to college, never went to a university. So he put his experiences and ideas in very simple language, which, I think for me - kid from the farms of Idaho - was so important. When I would say, “This is all the company pays.” Mr. Shoaff would say, “No, that is all they pay YOU.” I thought, “That is a new to look at it.” I told him things cost too much. But he said, “No, you can’t afford them.” Well, that was a new concept for me. He promised that if I would improve, then I would qualify for more money. So I learned that we don’t have to work on the company, we have to work on ourselves.

If it had been technical, I would have missed it. If it had been mystic, I would have backed away. But it was just basic, blunt “a-b-c” familiar stuff that I hadn’t thought of before. For me it was the beginning of what he called “personal development”.

Mr. Shoaff also taught me that life puts some of the more valuable things on the high shelf so that you can’t get to them until you qualify. If you want the things on the high shelf, you must stand on the books you read. With every book you read, you get to stand a little higher.

And the “biggie” that forever had an impact on me, “Success is something you attract by the person you become.” That phrase changed my life. Success is not to be pursued, but to be attracted by the person you become. Put your energy into becoming a better you, the best you. Learn the skills. Practice the skills. Attract the success.

These simple strategies and ideas helped change my life, forever, for the better. Thank you, once again, Mr. Shoaff.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Leadership/Management by Jim Rohn

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”

“We must learn to help those who deserve it, not just those who need it. Life responds to deserve not need.”

“My mentor said, ‘Let’s go do it’, not ‘You go do it’. How powerful when someone says, ‘Let’s!’”

“Good people are found not changed. Recently I read a headline that said, “We don’t teach people to be nice. We simply hire nice people.” Wow! What a clever short cut.”

“Managers help people see themselves as they are; Leaders help people to see themselves better than they are.”

“Learn to help people with more than just their jobs: help them with their lives.”

Thank you Brendon for sharing the top image with us.

Kirk