One major aspect of your personal image comes from how well you’ve developed what’s inside your skull. I’m not talking about a high IQ or your skill at Trivial Pursuit. I’m referring to your mental fitness.
Can your mind lift abstract concepts from The Wall Street Journal or from the professional journal in your field? Can […]

I Just watched a very compelling and inded  inspiring  interview on TV, (Talking Heads ABC TV May 7th) with the legendary Australian entrepreneur and businessman Dick Smith. At age 62 he has achieved more than many would consider doing in two lifetimes, let alone one.
For those overseas (and those locals who may have forgotten.) Dick […]

Have you ever gotten to the end of the day and wondered where all your time went? You were up-and-down, left-and-right busy all day, yet you barely made a dent in your to-do list; so what did you do? What happened to all that time if it wasn’t spent accomplishing your projects?
Time-wasters come from the […]

I’ll see it when I believe it!
It has been estimated that we each have upwards of 50,000 thoughts per day. How many of yours are negative? Sometimes you have to do a mental spring-cleaning to get rid of those negative thoughts that have become ingrained attitudes. Stopping self-destructive thoughts is like stopping any other bad […]

Think you have what it takes to be an consultant or a coach? I wasn’t so sure I knew when I first started in 1999. All I knew was I desperately wanted to work from home to raise my two sons after my divorce. It took a lot of trial and error to get to […]

Adapt your connections with people!
When you are speaking with someone, how well do you speak the other person’s language? How well you get on that person’s wavelength? There are some people, as professional as they are, as knowledgeable as they are, as helpful as they are, that simply just rub you the wrong way. They […]

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top, I won’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long time. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s […]

Organizational conflict can occur at several levels: between individuals, between groups and between organizations. While we will focus on interpersonal conflict, the principles and ideas discussed here are also valid for inter-group and inter-organizational conflicts.
Conflict typically proceeds through four stages even if each step is not recognized as such. The phases identified by theorist Louis […]

Because street smarts are so important to every part of your life, here is a quick review of the major elements that go into street smarts. Print this list out and keep it with you, for a regular reminder to be street smart every day.
I. Heightened Awareness
A. Trust your intuition
B. Develop perceptiveness and ability to […]

Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King were both spiritual giants. While it may seem difficult to see yourself in those terms, there is a lot to be learned from them - a lot that can be applied in your own life.
Spirituality is looking beyond the material dimension of your life and discovering something that’s intangible […]

You bet! Can I create a million dollars by sitting on my backside and meditating each day? No way!
With all the hype about The Secret and the Laws of Attraction, there have been many people jumping on the bandwagon to make a quick buck. All of a sudden there are experts in abundance thinking […]

When we think of genius, for the most part we think in terms of mental or intellectual power. We think of brilliant human beings. We think of mathematicians or inventors or writers. Painters and sculptors may be in a slightly different category — a little more physical and intuitive — but even here, we still […]

Adaptability is your willingness and ability to behave in ways that are not necessarily characteristic of your style in order to deal effectively with the requirements of a situation or relationship. Adaptable people make the choice to go beyond their own comfort zones so others feel more comfortable.
With adaptability, you can treat people the way […]

When it comes to leadership, business operators are given the reigns often by default rather than as a planned part of the process. So here’s a framework you can use as a starting point. At any time you can refer back to it and ask yorself, “How am I doing in each of these areas?” […]

“I don’t have enough time”, “I have to work late tonight”, “I have to pick up the kids”, “I have to go to the supermarket”, “I’m too tired to get out of bed that early”, “I’m too exhausted after work”, “I think I need another rest day”, “I don’t have time to take a lunch […]

Self-confidence is the food that feeds our personal growth. It is an indispensable part of achievement. Self-confidence stems from the self-awareness of our intrinsic worth as individuals. We are blessed with an incredible amount of potential, most of which is untapped. George Santayana once wrote, “Man is as full of potentiality as he is of […]

You run the business, you worked your fingers to the bone to get it up from zero to hero, you finally leveraged your way to add in some employees, and after all that you are starting to make the whole thing pay for itself handsomely. Well done.
So what’s your job now… In the begining you […]

Threshold, a limit you reach where a reaction takes place…
In business this can mean many things, I would like you to explore the thought of threshold and consider how many areas you have a threshold with, any area where you reach a limit and your ‘comfort zone’ is stretched too far and you retreat or […]

Then what happened?
Most of us are busy in our organisation/s doing what comes naturally or otherwise, so what did you focus on today, or yesterday for that matter. Was it spot fires, hassles that arose, customer complaints, calls to suppliers, and what about the marketing?
Yes, most of us are very busy, so the point about […]

“The reason you don’t understand me, Edith, is because I’m talkin’ to you in English and you’re listenin’ to me in dingbat!” - Archie Bunker
Archie was right about finding a common language or wavelength, but it takes two to communicate– the speaker and the listener. Both need to make the effort to understand each other. […]

A friend described to me today how his 23 year old son ‘turned a corner’ just recently when working in a computer shop. Alistair was bursting with technical knowledge yet really lacked confidence. This all changed after he gave some advice to a customer whose daughter was starting uni.
“She’ll need this, and this. This is optional, but […]

After my third attempt to de-code the phone number from my voice mail … I gave up. Seems Frank Janson … Johnson …  Jorson or something like that from some company in Mauzoula or Missouri wants me to call him back. His number is 269-6 something, four, 36 or maybe it’s 3 zero then 6, […]

Have you ever wondered how really high achievers manage to get so much done in a business day? Then manage to take so much time off with their family and friends.
Well in my experience it’s because they have learned how to “work like a maniac” when they work, but when they take time off […]

Over the past two years I’ve immersed myself in learning. Because my business is marketing, I have mostly attended and spoken at marketing seminars. But I also make time to attend seminars and listen to audio programs on personal development as well.
Why?
You should actually work harder on yourself than you do on your job. I […]

It’s that time people make all sorts of promises to themsleves they will NOT keep! New years resolutions. So? What do you resolve to do…
Perhaps the right question to ask is… “How come my past resolutions did not work?
Now you’re on to something. here’s some reasons
• Not specific enough - The resolution was perhaps to […]

Take a few moments to think about a new years resolution. what would you want… something personal or professional…
On the professional side, just think for a minute, if you had the cash to do a workshop, seminar or other… what would you like to learn?
Sales skills?
Marketing skills?
People Skills?
Customer service perhaps?
[…]

It’s that time of the year when many take a break (down under anyway…) and they get the chance to sit back a relax a little at least.
How many of you want to forget the business, and how many are still wrapped up in it, failing to unwind even a little!
My thought for you at […]

Every week I publish my ezine, I get almost instantaneous feedback. Most of the time it’s wonderful comments like “Thank you for all you do, Ali!” and “I really appreciated this article. It gave me tips I could really use on that subject.” Or “Great teleseminar you’re offering - it’s just what I need to […]

There’s one marketing condition I see over and over with my clients, and it’s called “but-I’m-not-an-expert-itis”. These people are afraid to play bigger because they think it’s not their time yet. (The important words there being “they think”.) They’re waiting for something to happen - a degree, a certification, a blessing from the gods in […]

I belong to an exclusive club called “those of us left behind after a suicide’.  It’s not a nice club to be a member of.  You have a double grieving going on, you grieve for their sad life and their death.  Unless you have experienced losing someone to suicide you can never understand what it’s like.  […]

Deadlines, time thieves and balancing work and family are causing many of us to suffer stress and unhappiness.  By planning each day and setting yourself goals, you will find that life becomes a little less hectic and your stress levels will decrease.  It takes 15 minutes each morning to plan your day.  Use this checklist frequently.
EVERYTHING HAS […]

Corporate training is an investment, not an expense, but how do you choose an appropriate trainer? Firstly, establish what skills are lacking in the company.
Choosing the right type of training programme can be a daunting task. If you haven’t researched the needs of your people, don’t waste your budget on training; make sure it is […]

This isn’t just for CEOs. It’s for everyone. Score yourself with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for each of these and see how many you get out of 11. Be honest: no-one else will know but you.
1. Arrogance. You’re right. Everyone else is wrong.
2. Melodrama. You always grab the centre of attention.
3. Volatility. Your mood shifts […]

“If you do it right, you should be able to make 10 calls and get 5 appointments”

Most sales people hate prospecting.
Why is that? If prospecting is such an important skill, why do so few […]

In order to control your time, you have to know what you are doing with it now. The best way to determine this is to do an exercise that takes a maximum of a half an hour a day for 10 days. You will not have to go on a crash diet or run three […]

Fear stops many of us from truly expressing who we are and achieving our dreams. Some of us are risk takers, all of us make mistakes and I would say all of us have experienced fear at some stage or another. In this article I am talking about the type of fear that stops us from moving […]

1. Vision
All successful people have vision. They have the ability the “see” clearly what they want before it exits.
I’d have to agree with Mr Gates on that one. All of the successful people I have known and […]

Has the world changed so drastically that manners are no longer considered necessary? Is a thank you or a quick acknolwedgement of an email too hard to do in our busy and stressed out working lives?
How can we change this poor culture and start treating each other with some common courtesy and respect again?   
Here are […]

Goals have a special place in the solo psyche. They have helped plenty of soloists to focus energies, challenge themselves and nurture a sense of achievement. But used unwisely they can, quite unintendedly, be counterproductive. That’s because goals are typically treated in a linear fashion: the theory goes you start at a point and progress […]

I love working with businesses as they are made up of people as the main part of the mechanism to make the organisation work, but all too often companies run into negative people issues and that can mean things may not go quite as planned some times. I developed this list in response to a […]

Could non religious spirituality have an intrinsic and or extrinsic value to your organisation? And what would it take to foster this in your organisation? Would the team “buy in” easily or would things have to be disguised in some way to make it seem like a secondary thing…
Consider this, Non religious spirituality essentially could […]

Don’t we just have it all at our fingertips these days? Mobile telephony, satellite monitoring, wireless go anywhere internet connection, SMS and ‘always on’ email straight to our palm devices.As soloists, there’s no excuse for failing to stay in touch with our work (and our clients) regardless of where we are or when. The marketers […]

This one really got me. I must admit I have seen it so many times with clients, and it still intrigues me to no end. But I liked the way this recent article in Mybusiness magazine (Oct 06) put it. “It’s not enough to know how” By Brad Sugars. His analogy of overweight people and […]

Allan and Barbara Pease are the internationally renowned experts on human relations and body language. 20 million book sales worldwide have turned them into household name internationally.
Did you know that according to Allan Pease…

Being ‘perceptive’ means being able to spot the contradictions between someone’s words and their body language.
And that overall women are […]

Occasionally we hear stories of people who struggle against great odds, prove the naysayers wrong, and achieve the nearly impossible. They turn around a defunct company; they stop a highway from going through virgin land; they beat the odds on terminal cancer.
In order to do extraordinary things, these people - and you! - don’t need […]