1 - Get Happy!

1 - Get Happy! 

I was speaking with someone today and something dawned on me about being happy whilst at work, this is something many of us find hard to be – happy at work! 

Don’t forget, we spend most of our working life at work and for this reason we have to be happy or we will spend our lives being unhappy. Finding happiness at work is easy for many of us; we have to look at our career from a different angle and/ or find contentment in our daily activities. 

Personally, I am grateful to be in a position where I am happy – If I wasn't my advice to you would be this, if you are not happy and you cannot ‘imagine’ yourself being happy where you are, Leave! Go find another job, this is important for you, as I said earlier we spend 40 hours a week plus at work, being miserable and clock watching till you finish at the end of the day – is NOT healthy. Is this a way you want to live, I wouldn't and neither would you.

This word ‘engagement’ is powerful for creating a better work environment for all of us, if we engage with our superior’s and show respect , we in-turn get respect. If we again, hold our colleague’s in high regards, we can expect to be held in high regards from others. We must create a community at work where we feel a part of it, when we achieve this, we begin to enjoy ourselves and feel some gratification immediately.

• This is something I read a few years back and is very useful; 

      Say ‘Hello, how are you?’ to someone new every day... 

This is a good way to engage and to feel different at work. You will instantly feel more engaged and feel better about yourself when you begin your work. This little addition to your daily routine will subconsciously put you in a better state of mind, on a high! As a result, starting to be happy at work. 

Remember, you spend most of your ‘waking’ life at work, be happy or get happy. Getting happy will improve all other areas of your life with it, personal and home life.

My Top 10 Leadership Quotes

My Top 10 Leadership Quotes
 

Sometimes during the day I often read inspiring and motivational quotes which give me a lift and that 'extra bit' if you will to get going at full steam again.

Below I have listed some of the ones I have saved and found and often read on leadership.

 

Favourite Leadership Quote #1

 

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter F. Drucker

 

Favourite Leadership Quotes #2 

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
George S. Patton

Favourite Leadership Quotes #3

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
Dwight Eisenhower

Favourite Leadership Quotes #4

 

A leader is a dealer in hope. 
Napoleon Bonaparte

 

Favourite Leadership Quotes #5

 

I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?
Benjamin Disraeli

Favourite Leadership Quotes #6

 

The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.
Elaine Agather

Favourite Leadership Quotes #7

 

Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.
Robert Half

Favourite Leadership Quotes #8

 

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men -- the other 999 follow women.

Groucho Marx

Favourite Leadership Quotes #9

 

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.
Theodore M. Hesburgh

 

Favourite Leadership Quotes #10

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
Theodore Roosevelt

 

Getting past the competition

Getting past the competition

We would all love to say some very colourful things about our competition, we often get annoyed when they undercut us or come into our customer with a price aggressive deal. People have always asked me a way in which we can tell our prospects/ customers that our competitions are ‘Not As Good As Us’ (worded politely!).

A few years ago I read an article and for the life of me cannot think of who said it; this simple technique is very effective in planting a seed of doubt and encouraging the other person to think twice about our competition.            

Next time you are told about a competitor use this;

                Oh yes, I know who they are, I have heard of them. Although, I don’t really hear much of them in recent times mind…

This plants doubt as they will be thinking; How come? Are they going under? Are they losing customers? Have they a bad reputation? This is a great way of giving you the advantage and giving yourself the upper hand.


Try this next time you come against a competitor and you would be amazed to the curiosity it arouses and the doubt that creeps in. We retrain our professionalism as we have said nothing ill of our competition we have merely just said what is the truth, “We don’t hear much of them in recent times”


If you have any questions please email me at; nobusinesslikenewbusiness@gmail.com

Using the Mirror

Using the Mirror

I was told a long time ago that the best way to get someone to come round to your way of thinking is simply this, creating a sub-conscious connection between you and the other person. This is done by observing the other person's body language and the way they are talking to you, such as tone and even words.

“When people are like each other, they tend to like each other”

Now, when speaking to people over the telephone you can almost get into your own routine, ways of doing things and pace of what you are saying. This is something I was guilty of for very a long time I would speak at a fast tempo. Whereas the other person maybe much more calm and relaxed than me, So they might miss what I am saying. They may not share my enthusiasm or maybe just think I am speaking so fast, that I am trying to sell them something they don't want to buy!

What I started to do differently was practice this technique, however someone greeted me over the phone I would use a similar tone and personality they have shown with me, truth of the matter is, people feel comfortable speaking to people who are like themselves, this does not mean we need to try and put on our very best South African accent on or try to sound Scottish to relate. We need to do this the best we can without sounding false and/or patronizing. After adopting this 'mirroring' technique I began to get engaged with more people, open up more prospects and well, they began to talk more openly and needless to say it has increased sales. 

This simple 'Mirroring' trick is something you can use to get people to be more open during a face to face meeting, take for example; "when I started doing door to door sales over 10 years ago I was faced with objections, people not really wanting to talk with me and sometimes to be honest, slam the door in my face! What I did was, I wondered how can I get more time with them to get my message across and get them to talk and ask me a question, I tried this little technique that when they opened the door with a closed image, such as arms crossed etc. I then held my hands together and started speaking to them whilst I did this, I opened my hands to a relaxed posture and lot more people followed suit" After this, I had a much better success rate through mirroring and then leading them into a much more comfortable state. 


Next time you notice that someone is closed with you and you want to get them more engaged, use this little technique as it will give you the best possible chance of opening them up and getting them to become a lot more interesting in what you are staying or presenting.