In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey says, “The difference between people who exercise initiative and those who don’t is literally the difference between night and day. I’m not talking about a 25 to 50 percent increase in effectiveness; I’m talking about a 5000-plus percent difference, particularly if they are smart, aware, and sensitive to others.”

Remember - Be Super, Be a Scooper

Kirk

 I just got this great quote in the snail mail box yesterday… It’s about what a “true friend” is…but I think it’s also about what a “true or truly great leader does”.

A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.  ~ William Arthur Ward

So be a leader, and be a friend.  ~Kirk

To lead people, walk beside them …
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate …
When the best leader’s work is done the people say,
“We did it ourselves!”
- Lao-tsu

 Make it a Great Week… Help Your People - do it themselves!

Kirk out

 One of my favorite quotes is ”Growth is the only evidence of life.”

 So Look Alive!

Kirk Out

Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation’s leaders wouldn’t know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.   ~ Lewis H. Lapham

Isn’t that the truth… I love that quote.  Leaders - real leaders -ask change of us, ask growth of us, ask us to be or do more than we currently are being and doing.  Far too many who clamor for leadership really only want someone fix and change others - while leaving them alone.  After all, they reason ,they aren’t the problem. 

If someone actually had the audacity to suggest they needed to do something, change something, or work to increase their competence and results …they would sadly attack that person’s competence. 

It’s so good - let’s read it again!  Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation’s leaders wouldn’t know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.   ~ Lewis H. Lapham

Kirk Out

Did you know you can read the T4D and respond to it in Blog format at www.kirkweisler.com/t4d - Go ahead check it out!

I remember being taught that , “Decisions Determine Destiny”.  Certainly this can be clearly demonstrated with the decisions we make regarding how we use our time.  Time, they say, is the true currency of life.  It is the great equalizer, the one thing every person regardless of circumstance wakes up with an equal amount of.  It is how we decide to spend this sacred currency that determines our destiny.  Wasted time equals wasted potential, wasted growth, wasted relationships and unchecked…perhaps even a wasted life. That’s why today I share this bit of “timely” wisdom from friend Sanford Berenberg.

Sanford Says -This week is a very busy week for me and my family. Everyday and every night is filled with places to be, things to do and people to meet. And yet, in doing these things, going to these places, and meeting these people, there is always more that has to be done. I remember learning about ‘opportunity cost’ in college a few years back. This is the cost of what you lose out on by making the choices that you make. For example, by going out and meeting with friends for dinner and coming home in time to go to bed, your opportunity cost would be anything else you might have been able to do during that same weekend.

To hedge this cost, I try to focus my efforts to get one project or activity completed after the other. Plan it out so that you can do as many of the things that you need to do, want to do, or is on your honey do list. And then prepare to be sidetracked. Kids asking for help, cats making the sounds that mean you will doing a clean up shortly thereafter, the phone ringing, being reminded of something you did not do previously, but needs to be done now.

Life is not easy, and with all of our convenience technology, life is actually harder and more action packed. We are doing more today than we have ever done in the past. We may be living the equivalent of multiple lives compared to only 50 years ago.

And yet, we still have to make our choices of what we will do and what will not get done tonight or tomorrow, etc.

To help you choose wisely, make sure you know what you want, and what you need, and remember to take time for yourself, it at all possible.

Because, in the end, life is too short to be squandered.  Choose wisely.

And that’s what Sanford says.

 Don’t just count the moments as they pass, Make the Moments Count! ~ Kirk Weisler

Did you know every T4D can be responded to in BLOG format at www.kirkweisler.com/t4d ? 

A No Contest Culture - Do you Vampire or Inspire? 

There is no contest between the company that buys the grudging compliance of its work force and the company that enjoys the enterprising participation of its employees .
- Ricardo Sempler 

   Culture counts…even for those who want to pretend it doesn’t - you know, the sad, mad and toxically cynical c0-workers who sour and taint what would otherwise be sweeter  spirit and feeling of the workplace.  If they went away, it wouldn’t be perfect and wouldn’t be problem free…but it would be a lot more fun and a heck of a lot easier to focus on solving problems, adding value, magnifying returns, and making a more significant difference.

To many people are working in toxic or semi toxic workplace environments.  The culture norm they endure is “require” instead of “inspire”.  The blame for this environment might be dispersed in equal parts to leaders, policy, peers and so forth.  But away from the blame game which is un-winnable at best…let’s look at the kind of co-worker you are, or you endure.

Let’s look at the “Peer Factor“. 

Work doesn’t have to hurt as much as it does.  And it might be you and I that are contributing to the pain of our shared existence.  One simple question we might ask ourselves is -  “When people walk away from me are they feeling better than when they walked up?”  After any interaction with you - do people leave it feeling “more” or do they leave it feeling “less”?

More what?  More capable, more hopeful, more energized, more filled belief in themselves, others, the mission, the cause, more committed, more connected.  With more skip in their step, more curve in their smile, more love in their buckets.

Less what?  Do I really need to answer this?  Yes, well less of everything on the more list.  We can all probably think of several examples right now of people we have walked away from feeling drained.  It’s as if they were “energy vampires” who sucked hope and light and happiness right from our very beings.   Many of the more senior vampires have the sinister ability to drain an entire room full of people at one time

Do you vampire?  Or do you Inspire?

 Today- set a goal that everyone leaves their experience with you…with more.

Make Your Culture Count - We get what we give - Let’s give more to everyone…not because we have too, but because we WANT TO!!

. ~ Kirk Weisler  

www.thecookiethiefbook.com  We want your favorite cookie recipe.

Welcome to the new T4D -I hope you like it, heck - I love it! 

And I am excited about the new ways it is going to allow the T4D to be shared, accessed and responded too.  So let’s get going and growing with today’s two really cool quotes.    Don’t be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small steps.  ~  David Loyd George

Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their jobs done ~  Peter Drucker

To view the new T4D/Blog simply go to www.kirkweisler.com/T4D

Kirk out  

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.

– John Andrew Holmes

Kirk Out

I have long admired the writings and wisdom of author C.S. Lewis who is most widely known for his authoring of the “Chronicles of Narnia”.  He actually wrote many wonderful books. For a complete list click here http://www.iblist.com/author349.htm

Here are 3 favorite quotes that offer just the slightest glimpse into his wisdom.

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.  ~ C. S. Lewis

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.   ~ C. S. Lewis

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.  ~ C. S. Lewis

 In summary then we might say “take some time in the future to be courageous as you speak virtue without exaggeration.

Let’s make this a greater week, by becoming greater people.

Kirk Out