How to Trigger Great Ideas - By Brian Tracy

How to Trigger Great Ideas By Brian Tracy
A major stimulant to creative thinking is focused questions. There is something about a well-worded question that often penetrates to the heart of the matter and triggers new ideas and insights.

Questions Stimulate Creative Thinking
Some of the best questions I've found for business problem solving are the following:

Clarify Your Desired Result
Question #1 "What are we trying to do?" Whenever you become frustrated with slow progress for any reason, step back and ask this again and again, "What are we trying to do?"

Analyze Your Current Methods
Question #2 "How are we trying to do it?" If you are experiencing resistance, perhaps your method is wrong. Be willing to objectively analyze your approach by asking, "How are we trying to do it?" Is this the right way? Could there be a better way? What if our method was completely wrong? How else could we approach it?

Could You Be Wrong? It requires courage to face the possibility that you may be wrong but it also leads to your seeing new possibilities. The rule is: Always decide what's right before worrying about who's right.

Question Your Assumptions
Another good question is, "What are our assumptions?" About the person, the product, the market, the business? What are our assumptions? Could we be assuming something that is incorrect? Someone once said that "Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure".

What if your unspoken or implied assumptions were wrong? What would you have to do differently?

Put Past Decisions on Trial
Another form of focused questioning is what I call "Zero based thinking." This method requires that you put every past decision on trial for its life regularly by asking, "If I had not made this decision, knowing what I now know, would I make it?" If I had not hired this person or gotten involved in this project, knowing what I now know, would I do it over again?

If the answer is "NO" to one of these questions, then your aim should be to get out of the decision as fast as possible. Be willing to "cut your losses," and try something else.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to trigger more and better ideas.

First, be very clear about exactly what it is that you are trying to do. Write it down and describe it as if it were already achieved.

Second, question your assumptions continually. What if there were a better way? Be willing to try something completely different.
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What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do - Now what??

What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do

In his poem "The Road Not Taken," Robert Frost compares life to a road
in the woods.... Some paths are clear and smooth; others are bumpy and
filled with obstacles. While Frost's poem encourages us to be bold, to
take risks, and to explore the unknown, the truth of the matter is that
no matter which road you choose, the time will come when you get stuck.
Some problem will come along that is outside your realm of experience,
or a situation will be so surprising, so startling, that you just won't
know what to do.

When you don't know what to do, it's very easy to end up in a "Now
what?" rut... that is, a very non-productive cycle of asking "Now
what?" over and over and over because the only answer you have is "I
don't know."

If this is familiar to you, I encourage you to escape the "Now what?"
rut by considering the following:

1. It's O.K. Not to Know
Many people get stuck right off the bat by beating themselves up for
not having an immediate answer or for not foreseeing each and every
problem they encounter. Nobody can know everything, and nobody can
foresee everything, so don't spend a lot of time on this.

2. Pause, Don't Stop
Take time to reflect on the situation at hand, to discover what the
real problem is and what possible solutions might resolve it. But don't
spend so much time thinking things over that you lose momentum. So
pause, but don't stop, and press on with what you need to do. (Remember
your science lessons: Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest...)

3. Do What You'd Do if You DID Know What to Do
Whenever someone tells me, "I don't know what to do," I ask them what
they would do if they did know what to do. It seems like a silly
question, but most of the time I find that they can answer the
question! Sometimes we are so focused on the problem that we lose sight
of the fact that we really do know a solution to it. Asking this
question pushes us to focus on solving things.

4. Do Anything
There are times when you really, truly just don't have a clue about
what to do. In these cases, doing anything is better than doing
nothing. So, guess... go to lunch... turn left... flip a coin... Taking some
action not only keeps you moving, it changes your perspective on the
problem and helps you stay motivated. If what you've chosen to do is not the exact right thing to do, you'll find out soon enough and can change courses then. Of course, you may very well be correct, so you'll still be on track. Regardless, in most cases, doing something is far better (and more productive) than doing
nothing at all.

- By Jim M. Allen
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Elements of Change by Chris Widener

The key to achieving more than you currently are, no matter which area of your life or work you are focusing in on now, is change. The old saying rings true: If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you’ve already got. If you keep eating and exercising the way you currently are, you will weigh the same a year from now. If you continue to sell to the same people on the same schedule, you will make the same amount of money next year. In order to move forward, we must change.
Two things to be true about change. One, it is simple. Two, it is not easy. That is, the concept of change is simple to grasp. People or organizations are quick to say, “Oh, I know we need to change.” Simple.
But where the problem starts, and why most people and organizations do not change, is because it is not easy to change. But, I believe, if the process is well thought out, and if we have the guts and determination to carry it out, change can happen, and we can move on to more fulfilled lives.
Elements of change.
Discontentment with your current state.The first step in the process of change is to not want to be where you currently are. You must be discontent with it. If you are overweight, you must say, “I will not accept this anymore.” If you are in debt, you must say, “I cannot tolerate this any longer.” If you have broken relationships, you must say, “I will not live with this.” This is a decision to change and not accept the status-quo.
The picture of your preferred outcome.What is it that you want to change to? It absolutely is not enough to say “I need to change.” It must be: “I am going to change to…” This becomes the goal. I would encourage you to get a mental picture of it formulated in your mind. Get a real picture of it if it is that tangible. Perhaps write yourself a short essay, extolling the virtues of what life will be like when you get to the changed state.
New associations with the two states.You must begin to associate your current state you are in with pain, and the state you want to be in with pleasure. Let’s take weight for example. We tend to think of ice cream, mounds of it, with pleasure. I know that I do. Especially chocolate chip mint. Last night we went to some friend’s house and we had some ice cream. Normal portions. I don’t like to eat normal portions. I like huge portions of ice cream. There is an association of pleasure there. But what I did to overcome the urge to eat scoop after scoop was to associate huge portions to being overweight, not the pleasure of the taste. I also associated not eating the ice cream with feeling better about myself. Then when it comes to exercise, I work on associating the exercise and weight-lifting with the pleasure of fitting into my clothes rather than the pain my muscles feel every time I do it. This help me win the battle of the mind.
Develop a plan of short, simple steps.“I am going to lose fifty pounds in two months.” “I will sell 500% more next month.” These are examples of change that are good goals to have long term, but too big for the time allotted – and this is havoc on change! If your goals are too big in too short of time, you will fail and become discouraged. Then you will quit and decide change can’t be accomplished. Instead, you must have short, workable, attainable goals if you are going to see real change happen and stay. “I am going to lose five pounds a month for ten months.” “We are going to sell 6% more each month this year (That would double your business each year)” These are the size steps you need to take. Then you will build victory after victory.
Discipline yourself.Sorry but this is where it is up to you. At the heart of change is the ability to discipline ourselves. I cannot lose your weight. Your mom cannot go out and make sales calls for you. The only real obstacle standing between your current state and your desired outcome is you! So do everything you can to get yourself motivated to change! Force yourself to get out of bed and get to work on your goals! Discipline yourself. Choose to make the right decision.
Reward yourself when you have made the change.That’s right: reward yourself. You have worked hard and exerted a lot of self-discipline to get there! You deserve it!
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This Is Good!

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual,"This is good!"To which the king replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.
As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king
was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that
was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.
As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.
"You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off."
And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "And so
I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me
to do this."
"No," his friend replied, "This is good!""What do you mean, 'This is good'? How could it be good that I sent my
friend to jail for a year?"
"If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you."Situations may not always seem pleasant while we experiencethem, but it depends the way you see them... the choice is yours!

~Christian Godefroy

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Synergy Creates Energy By Denis Waitley

Living by comparison is fatal vision, for always there will
be those who appear better off and worse off than ourselves
at any given moment in time.

In truth, there is no such distinction as superior and
subordinate. We all have unique talents that will blossom
and flourish when nurtured.

In past decades, there was a more "look out for number one"
and "don't bring in people who might want your job" style of
leadership. You generally would hire those people who would
do as they were told and who wouldn't challenge your ideas
or authority. This type of thinking led to bulging
bureaucracies and mediocre middle management that accomplished little.

This mind-set also created a scarcity mentality that there
wasn't enough to go around: so don't share ideas, don't
brainstorm with others who might steal your concepts, and
above all, don't help your coworkers or employees succeed.
We have seen that this approach clearly will not work in the global marketplace of the knowledge age.

Today the challenge is to establish networks, strategic
alliances, synergistic relationships, and ad hoc teams to
solve problems and help everyone accomplish their goals. You
now look for those people who are not satisfied with the
status quo, who are striving for excellence and have talents
and abilities that you don't.

This requires that you "check your ego at the door" and that
you don't get intimidated by others who may have different
talents or strengths than you do. This is what synergy is
all about. As we value the differences and look at truly
working together, one plus one really can equal three or
even more.

Focus on "working with others" rather than
"competing against others."
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Ambitious and Impatient Employees by James Adonis

There are two types of people in this world: those who stand on escalators – and those who frantically walk up them eager to reach their destination a few seconds sooner than the rest.

Escalator-walkers have a lot in common with ambitious and impatient employees. Both groups get frustrated at the thought of being held back by elements beyond their control.

As an aggressive escalator-walker, I speak on behalf of my fellow climbers when I say that there are three main rules of escalator etiquette that we urge others to follow.

- Don’t stand on the right-hand side or in the middle. Otherwise known as “blockers”, these people prevent an escalator-walker from reaching the finish line.

- Don’t stop just before the end. Usually referred to as “brakers”, these people fear getting their feet caught because they abruptly halt at the top of the escalators.

- Don’t stand too close. When a throng of people leave an escalator-walker with no choice but to stand, the “touchers” ignore the two-step exclusion zone.

The one theme that runs throughout all three of these is access. Likewise, to keep ambitious and impatient employees engaged, we need to give them access in three ways.

Be less of a blocker. Provide employees with access to interact with senior managers, access to be involved in major projects, and access to participate in important discussions.

Be less of a braker. Building their resume means the world to ambitious employees, so give them access to mentors, guides, training, and be their advocate.

Be less of a toucher. Expand access levels by avoiding micromanagement. Give them the space to make decisions, accept what they come up with, and even let them fail.

Ambitious and impatient employees might be the ones demanding progress, but at the end of the day, a primary driver of engagement is every employee’s progress in whichever way they define it. This is summed up by comedian, Mitch Hedberg, who said:

“An escalator can never break; it can only become stairs. You would never see an ‘Escalator temporarily out of order’ sign, just ‘Escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience’."
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The Attitude of Gratitude By Zig Ziglar

Humbly grateful or gratefully humble? In a recent sermon Dr. Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas points out that each person in his or her lifetime will cultivate either an attitude or spirit of thanksgiving, gratitude and thankfulness, or an attitude or life as a cynic, full of anger, bitterness and arrogance. He expands on this by pointing out that a grateful child, by-and-large, is far more likely to be a happy child. He also says a person who is hostile, angry and critical, who is a fault-finder, is basically an ungrateful person.

Dr. Graham then goes on to emphasize that gratitude sweetens our disposition, brightens our day, and encourages those around us. He also says that gratitude will help make us healthy, is the antidote for every negative emotion in our lives, and that virtually every negative thought - anger, worry, fear, hostility or doubt - has at its root ingratitude.

Gratitude will not only make you healthy and happy, it will also change your perspective in life. Happy people basically focus on others; unhappy people focus on themselves and wallow in self-pity and doubt. Grateful people are far more optimistic and see whatever circumstances they're in as an opportunity for good.

Dr. Graham then elaborates and says if you can't think of something to be grateful for each morning, then think of some of the things you don't have that you can be grateful for. For example, you can be grateful that you don't have a fatal disease or unemployment staring you in the face. That gives all of us a great deal to think about, doesn't it?

Of all the "attitudes" we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing. Adopt that attitude
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Your Dimension Of Greatness

No one can know the potential,
Of a life that is committed to win;
With courage - the challenge it faces,
To achieve great success in the end!

So, explore the Dimension of Greatness,
And believe that the world CAN be won;
By a mind that is fully committed,
KNOWING the task can be done!

Your world has no place for the skeptic,
No room for the DOUBTER to stand;
To weaken your firm resolution
That you CAN EXCEL in this land!

We must have VISION TO SEE our potential,
And FAITH TO BELIEVE that we can;
Then COURAGE TO ACT with conviction,
To become what GOD MEANT us to be!

So, possess the strength and the courage,
To conquer WHATEVER you choose;
It's the person WHO NEVER GETS STARTED,
That is destined FOREVER to lose!

--- Author Unknown
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Prescription For Happiness by Robert Louis Stevenson

Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with the gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.


Don't take yourself too seriously.

You can't please everybody; don't let criticism worry you.

Don't let your neighbor set your standards.

Do the things you enjoy doing, but stay out of debt.

Don't borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than the actual ones.

Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities and grudges.

Don't hold post-mortems. Don't spend your life brooding over sorrows and mistakes. Don't be one who never gets over things.

Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.

Keep busy at something. A very busy person never has time to be unhappy.

For maximum effectiveness, this prescription should be taken as often as needed. Unlimited refills available.

Share with your friends.

--- Robert Louis Stevenson
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Multitasking is Out, Pinpointed FOCUS is IN!

Multitasking is Out, Pinpointed FOCUS is IN! - By Rhonda Hess

To do two things at once is to do neither. - Unknown

Have you ever had this experience?...

You're working on a project that requires creativity, such as writing your e-zine or designing a marketing campaign, and suddenly the phone rings, jolting you out of deep concentration. Even if you don't answer the phone, it takes a few beats before you can re-anchor into what you were doing before.

That time lapse is your "mental CEO" shifting from one task, with a specific goal and set of "rules," to another, with a completely different goal and set of rules. That shift takes time. The more complex the tasks, the longer the shift takes.

What else are you trying to do while reading this article?

Sure, we can multitask. We might even believe we can do it without losing efficiency. But we would be fooling ourselves.

It has been proven in scientific studies that toggling between tasks slows the brain down. In effect, multitasking makes us momentarily stupid -- unable to establish priorities, focus, or integrate anything new

Have you ever tried to read your email while listening to a teleclass? How about trying to have a serious conversation on your cell phone while driving?

Yes? Then you know that neither was done with your full presence or capacity. It's as if you weren't there for half of the time. You neither fully understood the emails nor fully integrated what the teleclass offered. Too little of your consciousness was on driving -- scary -- and you couldn't fully connect in the conversation.

We all know that multitasking has real costs. So why do we still do it?

It's ingrained in our habits. All the "time-saving" devices of our technological age encourage us to be distracted and lose the ability to focus. And that's a significant loss because focus is what brings prosperity. Distraction keeps us from it.
Focus means your full attention. Here are five daily practices to attain pinpointed focus and stop multitasking.

1. Clear your desk of anything unrelated to your current goal. Things command attention. The less you have before you, the less likely you'll be distracted.

2. Schedule your time into blocks so that you can focus in on one individual task at a time. Include separate blocks for completing high payoff actions, emailing, working with clients, planning, etc. Then set sacred boundaries around those tasks. Complete one, then move on.

3. Do the most important thing first. High payoff actions are the things that will have the biggest positive impact on your success. What will bring you the results you want most quickly? Put that first, always.

4. Take short breaks away from technology between time blocks or tasks. Take a walk around the block, play music, do something physical or creative. This will clear your mind and help your mental CEO recalibrate to the next task.

5. Plan for tomorrow. Schedule 1 to 3 high payoff activities for the next business day.

Become a master single-tasker!

- By Rhonda Hess
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INNER RESEARCH

When was the last time you sat down and assessed your life?

You know where you've been, how the changes you've made in the past are affecting you today but do you know where you want to be in the future and what aspects of your personal style are standing in your way of moving forward towards the life you really want to live?

Don't wait until some event causes you to do this. Make a conscious choice to do it now.

What are the benefits of deciding to look inside?

Suddenly you are allowing yourself to do something precious - you are giving yourself time to explore YOU. Every one of us is overbooked in our lives with little time to do anything for ourselves. We have jobs, families and friends who all demand our attention. How can we bring more to our daily relationships if we don't take the time to know and understand ourselves first?I won't kid you and say it is all rosy when you do your inner research. Sometimes you have to deal with issues you swept under the rug - knowing one day you would have to look at them again. But guess what? Today is all any of us gets, and even this is not a guarantee. So look inside - deal with what you want to avoid now. Get it out of the way so you can move forward.Don't wait until you are at your lowest; in your deepest, darkest black hole. Do your inner research first while you are strong and confident. Once you identify what needs to be done, look at this as your breakthrough time; a time of awakening, new beginnings, ridding the past and coming into the present and the future.You can now begin to rebuild, restore, and repair. Only now can you build a new foundation, your dream foundation.One thing I do recommend is to also thank yourself for all the courage you have shown in the past, for everyone has had rocky roads at sometime in his or her life. Celebrate the challenges you have overcome. Examine the times you have not triumphed and the lessons you were supposed to learn as a result. Be truthful.If you make a commitment to improve at least one aspect of your personality and develop a game plan with a start date, before you know it, you will be on your way to the life you really want.Seize this time to be the New you. This is where it all begins.

~ Marlene Blaszczyk
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