Two of these three quotes really appealed to me, one of them even more so than the other. And one of them was just cute. Enjoy.

“Know yourself. Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”-Ann Landers

I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work, and my God. –Helen Keller

There are some who leave in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then are some who turn one into the other. –Douglas Everett

Here we go…. Into reality

Kirk

“I may not have the capacity to love everyone, but I do have the capacity to act as if I do and run my business accordingly.” — Steve Farber, speaker and author

I would modify this quote in this way….  “Until I realize my full potential and capacity to love everyone,  I can at least exercise and strengthen the capacity I do have and act as if I do and run my business accordingly.”

How would you modify it?

Look at the relationship between today’s quote and the personal e-mail sent by John about his broken Television. 

Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.  — Harold B. Melchart

Good Morning Kirk,

I hope that all is well.  We met last March in Nashville.  You made a positive impression on me.  Since then I have gone through a transformation of my own.  I left my position with Ernst & Young.  It has been a nice quality of life adjustment. 

I wish you and your family the best.  I could not help but write the following as the television in my house recently broke, it has made all the difference.

My Television Broke   ~  My television broke yesterday or was it the day before.  The emptiness that I have felt has been replaced by the love and understanding for my family.  Forgotten are the shallow exploits of Madison Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard creatively replaced by the land of make believe and the world of pretend starring my son and I.   My son shared with me that he likes to make his baby sister laugh by touching his nose and that he wants to grow up strong like his dad as he touches my heart.  Amazing just how sensitive and insightful this little man of 3 can be, if only we would see.  So fortunate we are to have connected to the life that beautifully exists around us and so very thankful that our television broke yesterday, or was it the day before.

John W.

Thank you June Stone for sharing this with us!

——-In life, the difficult periods are the best periods to gain experience and shore up determination. As a result, my mental status is much improved because of them.  –The Dalai Lama

Life is a process of meeting and solving problems. Solving problems is a way that we test and develop our spiritual muscle. Think of outstanding people such as Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Helen Keller. Lincoln faced the problem of a divided country; Gandhi, an oppressed India; Keller, her personal handicaps. In rising to meet their vision, courage, fortitude, and compassion, they became great – not in spite of, but because of their problems.

Problems often come to us in the form of crisis. The Chinese glyph for the word crisis contains two symbols; one means danger and the other opportunity. When an obstacle is before you, use it to create a beneficial result. As with Lincoln, Gandhi, and Keller, let your problems bring out your greatness.

Rather than pray for a life that is problem-free, ask for one that is solution-full. Instead of requesting that God remove the mountain before you, seek the strength to climb it. Remember that the best students always get the toughest problems. Love the problems you have, and their priceless gifts will be yours.   Listening to Your Inner Voice. Copyright 1991, by Douglas Bloch.

There are two kinds of light–the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.
  - James Thurber

Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
  - Henrik Tikkanen

The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
  - Sophocles

“Man can now fly in the air like a bird, swim under the ocean like a fish, he can burrow into the ground like a mole. Now, if only he could walk the earth like a man, this would be paradise.” - Tommy Douglas

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” - Unknown

 I pulled these from an old Brian Tracy e-zine on Success for Sales people….but I think you’ll find the application of the principles applicable.  I know I do.  ~  Kirk

Use The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule is as applicable to individual salespeople as it is to a large sales force. Fully eighty percent of your success as a salesperson will be determined by your attitude and only twenty percent by your aptitude. Some people feel that attitude is ninety percent of success in all human endeavors involving other people, but we can quite comfortably use eighty percent as a figure for the purposes of this book.

Develop A Positive Attitude
A positive mental attitude, or a constructive and optimistic way of looking at yourself and your work, goes hand in hand with sales success in every field and in every market. The development of this unshakable attitude of cheerfulness and enthusiasm is your springboard to greatness as a salesperson, no matter what is going on around you. 

Learn Your Product Well
The twenty percent of sales effectiveness that comes from product knowledge and professional selling skills is terribly important as well. It is only when you are thoroughly knowledgeable about what you are selling and thoroughly skillful in your ability to present it effectively that you develop the calmness and confidence upon which a positive mental attitude depends.

Upgrade The Quality of Your Thinking
The quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life. If you improve the quality of your thinking, in any area, you improve the quality of your life in that area. By using your mind, your ability to think, you become a creator of circumstances rather than a creature of circumstances. You move from being powerless to being powerful. You determine everything that happens to you by the way you think about it, in advance. You may not be what you think you are, but what you think, you are!

Change Your Inner Attitudes of Mind
The most rapid and positive changes in your personality and your sales results come about when you change your thinking about yourself and your possibilities. When you reprogram your subconscious mind so you feel a sense of unshakable optimism and self-confidence, every part of your life begins improving immediately. As William James of Harvard wrote in 1905, “The greatest revolution of my generation is the discovery that individuals, by changing their inner attitudes of mind, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

Expect The Best
The very best salespeople have an attitude of calm, confident, positive self-expectation. They feel good about themselves and they have absolute faith that everything they are doing is contributing toward their inevitable success. They are cool, relaxed, happy and cheerful about their lives and their careers. They know, deep in their hearts, that they are good at what they do, and their customers know it as well. Often, their customers decide to buy from them even before they’ve made a sales presentation or described their product or service. They are the champions, or superstars, of selling everywhere, and you can be one of them by developing the same attitudes and attributes that they have.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, resolve today to develop and cultivate an attitude of calm, confident, positive expectations towards yourself, your customers and your career. Expect the best!

Second, take complete control of your thinking and concentrate on the solution rather than the problem. Look for the good in every situation. Be positive and cheerful, no matter what happens.

The quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life. If you improve the quality of your thinking, in any area, you improve the quality of your life in that area. By using your mind, your ability to think, you become a creator of circumstances rather than a creature of circumstances. You move from being powerless to being powerful. You determine everything that happens to you by the way you think about it, in advance. You may not be what you think you are, but what you think, you are!

While my thinking & believing in your greatness can help. 

It is your own thinking and belief in your potential that is required! 

Your life will get better when you do, ~ Kirk

Increasing Response Time

Between stimulus and response, there is a space.  In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

STIMULUS = FREEDOM TO CHOOSE = RESPONSE

What we all need is a “pause button”-something that enables us to stop between what happens to us and our response to it, and to choose our own response.  It is possible for us as individuals to develop this capacity to pause.  It is possible to act rather than react.

We can step back and examine our lives and our behavior.  The first step is self-awareness.

Self-awareness:  As humans we can stand apart form our own life and observe it.  We can look at our thoughts.  We can then decide to change our thoughts and behavior.

Conscience:  Moral or ethical sense, or inner voice.  It is the hardware of our soul. 

Imagination:  The ability to envision something entirely different from past experiences.  It is seeing yourself responding differently.

Independent will:  The power to take action.  The internal power we all have to be our “best self”.  The decision to recommit, to win the battles privately, to set personal goals,  and identify motives and values.  The essence of true happiness is subordinating what we want now for what we want eventually. 

The four principles reside in the space we humans have between what happens to us and our response to it.  The fact that we have these four gifts means no one has to be a victim.