Greetings and an awesome 2004!
We’ve survived the massive San Diego Fires, the Holiday season and the beginning of the New Year! We’re excited about 2004! In fact, we’ve decided to make this our “Best Year Yet” from both a business and a family angle.
This month’s e-WOW! edition features the first in a series of articles relating to the topic of enhancing performance. You can apply the principles to your business team, your home life, getting in shape or accomplishing any of your New Years resolutions. (Are you still sticking to those resolutions?)
Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to folks you think might enjoy or benefit from the perspectives offered.
And, be sure to check out our monthly Shame-less Marketing Ploy. We’re going way out on a limb and offering a FREE! day of training/speaking for your team—anywhere in the U.S. (Hawaii & Alaska included!). It’s our way of saying “Thanks” and working to make a difference. Be sure to check out the details and Hurry…
And one more thing…let’s make 2004 our Best Year Yet!
To your success,
Mark Rosenberger, CSP
Featured Article
"Take the 'T' OUT OF Your Life!"
by Mark Rosenberger, CSP
When it comes to human performance, one of the largest roadblocks is the letter “T.” The letter “T” can turn the possible into the impossible, the do-able into the undo-able and the can into can’t. In fact, the letter “T” added to the word “can” is the downfall of most progress.
Henry Ford is quoted as saying: “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Notice the huge difference in potential outcome: add the “T” and you’re sunk!
In a previous life, I taught elementary school. I had two major passions: Help the kids see that they are awesome creations; Develop a “Can do” attitude within them. I firmly believed the three R’s were important for kids to comprehend, but I was passionate about helping kids say “YES” to their potential and ability. In order to accomplish this goal, we worked together in eliminating the “T’s” from their vocabulary.
Eliminating the “T” was serious business. My fifth graders would make a comment saying, “I can’t find the answer” or “I can’t get this.” I’d then invite them to look up the word “Can’t” in the dictionary. But, no one could find the word in our dictionary. Someone (o.k., I’ll come clean, it was me…I feel better confessing after all these years) had removed the word “Can’t” from our dictionary. I asked the students what the point of that exercise might be. Most of them got the point quickly and dug into finding the answer or solving the problem using their “can-do” attitudes.
I knew the process was catching on when one of my students was frustrated, claiming the assignment was impossible and they “can’t” find the answer. Suddenly, one student leans over to the frustrated student and proclaims, “Sounds like you’d better get the “T’s” out of your vocabulary!” I loved it!
The nay-sayers are not new. The letter “T” has been combined with the word “can” since the beginning of time. Here’s evidence. Each prediction or comment was taken from official documents, or magazines and newspapers widely read and respected during their day. Here’s what the folks in the know had to say:
1840: “Anyone traveling at the speed of thirty miles per hour would surely suffocate.”
1878: “Electric lights are unworthy of serious attention.”
1901: “No possible combination can be united into a practical machine by which men shall fly.”
1926: “This foolish idea of shooting at the moon is basically impossible.” (from a scientist)
1930: (another scientist) “To harness the energy locked up in matter is impossible.” And the list goes on and on…the personal computer, fiber optics and the Cubs winning the World Series. (Well, perhaps there are one or two reasonable “cant’s.”) The real tragedy is not in the profession by these “experts”, but that 98% of the population believed them. Thank goodness for the nonconformist who ignored the perspective of the so called experts.
Want to increase sales, improve customer service, enhance the quality of your work environment, cut cycle times, have more fun with fewer headaches and hassles? Here’s how: eliminate the “T’s” from your vocabulary. Remove, once and for all the word “can’t” from your language. Here’s how: Quit focusing on all of the reasons why you “can’t” do something and focus on all of the reasons why you “can” do something!
Practical How–to’s: Focus on a single goal or objective. It can be business or personal. It can range from closing a new account to gaining a healthy lifestyle. The point--pick one objective and write it at the top of a piece of paper. Under your goal or objective divide the paper in half. You should now have a line running down the middle of your paper.
Above the left column write the sentence: “All the reasons I can’t accomplish my goal.” The top of the right hand column should read: “All the reasons I can accomplish my goal.” Pretty simple, got it handled?
The next step is essential. Take your pen and put a Giant “X” throughout the entire left hand column. You’ve just eliminated the focus on all the “cant’s.” You are permitted to focus only on all the reasons why you “can” accomplish your goal. Pretty simple, yet you’ll be amazed at the outcome. (This is a great exercise to perform with a team.)
Conclusion: It’s our choice, we can either be influenced by the “can’s” or the “cant’s” but only one choice will lead us forward. Imagine what we could do in our businesses and communities if we got rid of the “T” from our vocabulary.
Go Be the difference,
Mark Rosenberger, CSP
Lessons of the Trapeze
Trapeze Buddy Success Characteristic:
The Ability To Laugh!
