1. This Week’s Jump-Start
2. The Champion Within Article
3. Seeds of Greatness
4. The Winner’s Edge Coaching Tips
1. This Week’s Jumpstart
Problems Can Be Opportunities in Disguise
One of the most desirable attitudes of a leader is an ability to view problems as opportunities and setbacks as temporary inconveniences. This positive attitude also welcomes change as friendly and is not upset by surprises, even negative ones. How we approach challenges and problems is a crucial aspect of our decision making process, whether in business or in our personal lives. In companies and environments in which criticism, pessimism, cynicism and motivation by fear prevail, an attitude develops that leads to avoiding failure at all costs. The trouble with failure avoidance is that it’s simultaneously avoidance of success, which depends on big risks.
Innovation and creativity are impossible when people are in fear of being penalized for failure.
Early experience often teaches that failure is to be avoided at all costs. This begins in childhood, when we encounter the first “No!!” It grows like a weed when we are criticized by our parents, other family members, our teachers and our peers. It leads to associating ourselves with our mistakes, and to a self-image of clumsiness and awkwardness. Not wanting to be criticized or rejected, many adults also seek security rather than risk looking foolish or appearing awkward. They quietly ride with the system, not rocking the boat.
All lasting success in life is laced with problems and misfortunes which require creativity and innovation. Winners turn stumbling blocks into steppingstones.
In the 1920s, when Ernest Hemingway was working hard to perfect his craft, he lost a suitcase containing all his manuscripts. The devastated Hemingway couldn’t conceive of redoing his work. He could think only of the months he’d devoted to his arduous writing—and for nothing, he was now convinced.
But when he lamented his loss to poet Ezra Pound, Pound called it a stroke of luck. Pound assured Hemingway that when he rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts and only the best material would reappear. Instead of framing the event in disappointment, Pound cast it in the light of opportunity. Hemingway did rewrite the stories, and the rest, as they say, is history.
This week, concentrate on framing your challenges as “opportunities to grow” rather than “disappointments and problems.”
—Denis Waitley
2. The Champion Within Article
A Compelling “Why” by Denis Waitley
(excerpted from The Psychology of Motivation)
I have a suitcase for you. In that suitcase there is $1 million in cash. The suitcase is sitting in a building that is about an hour’s drive from where you are now.
Here is the deal: All you have to do is get to this building in the next two hours. If you get there before the end of the two hours, I will hand you the suitcase, and you will be a million dollars richer.
There is one catch, however. If you are even one second late, our deal is off, and you will not get a dime. No exceptions! With that in mind, what time would you like to leave?
Most people would respond to that scenario by saying that they would leave right now. Wouldn’t you?
So off you go. You jump into your car and start driving for the building. You are excited and are already starting to plan how you are going to spend your million dollars. Then, suddenly, the traffic comes to a complete stop. You turn on the radio and find that there has been a series of freak accidents between you and the building and there is no way to get there!
Now what would you do? Would you give up and go back home? Or would you get out of your car and walk, run, hire a helicopter, or find some other way of getting to the building on time?
Now let’s suppose for a minute that you are driving to an appointment at your dentist’s office. The traffic again comes to a stop. Amazingly, there have been freak accidents between you and your dentist’s office. What would you do then? Probably give up, go home and reschedule!
What is the difference between these two situations? It all comes down to why. If the why is big enough; the how is usually not a problem. This compelling why is connected to your personal objectives, mission statement or magnificent obsessions. It is the basis of your motivational support beam. Truly motivated people are able to identify and tap into the power of a compelling why in everything they do.
—Denis Waitley
3. Seeds of Greatness
Seeds of Confidence: Ask and Listen
It is better to earn the trust and respect of one of your children than to gain notoriety and adulation of the masses.
If you must speak, ask a question.
Unless what you say benefits the other person, don’t say it.
It’s not what I think that counts, nor is it what you think that counts. It’s what I think you think and what you think I think that really counts.
No one listens to a person operating out of self-interest alone.
Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.
If you attack another person’s beliefs, you are creating an enemy.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue. Moderation in principle is always a vice.
Emperors are overthrown. Empowerers are revered.
Before you state your case, gather the evidence, especially what motivates the other person.
Marriage is not total agreement. It is looking in the same direction together.
Listening without bias or distraction is the greatest value you can pay another person.
—Denis Waitley
4. The Winner’s Edge Coaching Tips
Here’s a proven technique for overcoming the tendency to procrastinate:
If what you are putting off involves other people, consult with them. Your reasons for delaying action may be imaginary. Lack of communication often turns molehills into mountains.
—Denis Waitley
