Successful Blog

Why Can't Everyone Think Like We Do? What to Do about the People Who Disrupt Our Lives

by

Why Does He Care So Much about THAT?!!

Life is going. Things are urgent, important, and vibrant. I’m in the zone, making things happen, feeling the vibe. Then it happens.

Someone points out a tiny crack. Even worse, he’s worried about it, fretting about it, suggesting extreme precautions for fixing. And I can’t believe that anyone has invested the time … to write 100 little sticky notes that say exactly the same thing when one big note would have worked; to interrupt the conversation on a heartfelt idea to point out I’ve mispronounced a word; to check whether I want to order special paper for a document that’s late.

I’m not good at reviewing the soil composition when I’m moving mountains. I’m also not good at the opposite when someone brings up the mountain when I’m analyzing the soil.

The disruption is the same.

I tend to be drawn to people who think like I do. It’s so much easier to relate to them.

Why can’t everyone think like we do?

What to Do about the People Who Disrupt Our Lives

It’s a fact. We think that people who think like we do are brilliant, easy, and wonderful. They truly are intuitive, perceptive, and world-changing leaders in every way. But you know, the ones who we need most are the people who think differently.

We call them “difficult,” because they’re challenge to understand. That’s the value of being around them.

People who think differently than we do care deeply about things we don’t even think about. Therein lies their strength.

We should celebrate the people who disrupt our lives.

  1. Start with thank you. The second that you want to say “WHAT?!!” say “Thank you for saying (seeing, asking about) that.” Whatever issue (problem, outlandish idea) someone brings, know that he or she invested time thinking about it and bringing it to your attention. Say that you know that.
  2. Value the execution that comes from commitment. People who go to unimaginable extremes to make sure something is right care more about that something than we ever will — therefore they execute it better than we ever would. Rather than being perplexed by their values, value their commitment.
  3. Change their title from obstacle to safety net. Let them be on the team. Let them in on your goals. Invite them to take care of what they do well and know they’ll have your back on that.

Innovation, progress, and safety come from brave, valuable voices different from our own. The very differences that make them valuable also make it hard to hear them.

If you believe opposites attract, maybe you should.

Ever had an irritating, interrupting difficult person save your butt? Did it change you somehow?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Have You Put More Hard Work into Your Successes or Your Failures?

by

I've been thinking . . .

about the hard road to success.

I’m not thinking about getting rich quick. I’m thinking about accomplishing rigorous, heartfelt dreams. What I’m wondering is

Is the road to success really hard?

I worked for someone once, who believed that if you got good grades and didn’t complain about the work, you went to an easy school. She would argue for the problem — that school was supposed to hard, that work was supposed to be taxing. That success needed to be earned by blood, sweat, and tears.

Does it really?

Every success I’ve known has come from being saturated in learning. I threw myself at every minute of my university time. It didn’t feel hard at the time. It felt thrilling. I wasn’t thinking about how hard it would be to get to the goal. I was thinking about the path to take me there.

All I saw was what new process I got to learn, which new skill I got to master, which new person I got to meet to accomplish the next step to make my way. Nothing seemed like so much work, but at the end I knew and could do things..

I realize now that every time I’ve been a success the work hasn’t felt hard — It’s felt huge, but energizing — pushing me forward. It seems that I’ve put more hard work into trying to save my biggest failures.

Seems to me, if we think the road to success is hard, then we’re on the wrong road.
Seems to me, if we choose our own right road, the work becomes less like work.
Seems to me what comes natural comes more easily.

How about you? Have you put more hard work into your successes or your failures?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Beach Notes: Feel the Future

by

by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

I was inspired with the words from this billboard advertisement
which graced Snapper Rocks during the recent QuickSilver
Roxy Pro Surfing Championships.
Just in case you are curious the full image can be seen here

With so much gloom and doom around you have to ask what kind of
future do you feel

We can all choose to feel the way the doom and gloom merchants
would like us to feel or we can change our emotional vibration
to feel positive. In other words we can choose to feel a
prosperous and bright future. It is up to us!

So will you have positive feelings about your future today?

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Are You Big Enough to Help Someone Become Greater Than Yourself

by

The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. To underscore the importance of relationships in business and to have a chance to make and celebrate a few while we’re doing that, I’ve opened up this series by successful and outstanding bloggers like you.

The ROI of Relationships — Steve Farber and Patrick Lencioni on “Greater Than Yourself”

The first thing I noticed when I met Steve Farber were these linebacker shoulders that appeared as if they could support the world. Then he said, “Hello, let’s get breakfast,” and the smile in his eyes and voice made me think of Butch and Sundance saying in the old movie, “Who is this guy?”

Steve Farber had been someone I’d wanted to meet since the second I’d read both of books, The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership
and The Radical Edge: Stoke Your Business, Amp Your Life, and Change the World
back to back.

The charcters in his business fables, one particular named Agnes, had become people, friends to me. Agnes had sent me on a quest to identify that single value that wrapped up all my values into one. She called it “finding your frequency.”

Now Steve has a new book called Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership. I’ve read that too and it’s set me on another quest how to change the world one person at a time through generosity of spirit and true leadership.

In this new fable Steve investigates the story of a note he found inside the case of a guitar he bought, He meets people who believe that raising others up above themselves is the greatest form leadership. It sounds simple: expand yourself, give yourself, replicate yourself. But the commitment to choose another person well, to offer over all you know and give access to is a huge and wonderful form of extreme leadership.

In the video below, Steve talks to Patrick Lencioni and Matthew Kelly — their story is told in the introduction to the book. You’ll find more about them and others on the Greater Than Yourself site.

Greater Than Yourself officially launches April 6th. It’s not only the fable, but also case stories and tools for starting your Greater Than Yourself project. Check it out.

Steve will be stopping in at SOBCon this year. I can’t wait to see him. I’ve already started working on my Greater Than Yourself Project. You can learn how to start yours by reading this book.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Experience the ROI of Relationships

5 Ways to Mine Gold When It's Raining

by

Last night we went out to dinner, the weather was unfriendly — cold, rainy, with a hard wind blowing us down the street. As we sat in our favorite pub enjoying the haven, we listened as each person commented on the weather as they arrived.

People competed for negative adjectives — awful, frightful, dismal and nasty were just a handful they chose. … And they frowned when they said them.

And each time those remarks were made, I thought I wanted to back off from the speaker. Who wants to be talking with someone who’s mad about the rain? Let’s just say we’re not golden when we’re unhappy with things we’re not about to change.

5 Ways to Mine Gold When It’s Raining Outside

This morning before I even look out the window, I could hear that the day wasn’t bringing any spring sunshine. No folks would be running along the beach. This is not picnic time. I started to form the thought, “another nasty day,” then I stopped myself thinking “nah, think like that and I won’t want to spend the day anywhere near me.”

I decided that today has every potential to be golden.

<a href="http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=469365"> Photo by Pat4 </a>
Photo by Pat4 -- Click image.

I can find gold with everything I try.

  1. I can write with my own light about the people who inspire me.
  2. I can look for the golden opportunities to help other folks shine.
  3. I can mine my archives for ideas that will become stellar blog posts.
  4. I can gather sparks of insight and energy from my friends and the wisdom they write.
  5. I can take the example of the power of the rain outside my window and apply that power in my life.

Nothing wrong with not wanting to be cold, wet, and blown around. I’m choosing not to participate in a day that’s not human friendly. If I don’t have to, I probably won’t join it. But I’ve decided it’s not at all awful, frightful, dismal, or nasty. It’s a chance to see what I make shine inside.

How do you mine gold in your life?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Go for the Gold Inside You!