Historic times

Well we are only 1 day away from the Opening Day Ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics! We are truly living is exciting times. I can remember when China was closed to Americans and you couldn’t get a visa to go and visit. Now thousands of Americans are flocking to China to see young people compete in sports games to be the best in the world. It lifts my spirits to look forward to these historic events. My belief is that as long as you can look forward to tomorrow you have the capacity to succeed. Although tomorrow is never promised to us, that doesn’t stop us from looking forward and not backwards. Enjoy today for yourself and make a plan for tomorrow; treat each other with respect and support so that our customers can continue experience the excellent customer service they have grown accustomed to.

Reacting

All of us have on occasion “reacted” to less than positive information, especially when the information of dis-information is directed to you. When faced with that situation, I often reflect on the INFORMATION to evaluate whether there is truth that can be gleaned because information is neither positive or negative; information helps us to put situations and events in context and allows us to be better people and make better judgment. Information is also a MIRROR that reflects the content of character of the person providing the information and if it caused you to react or act inappropriately then has exercised power that it would not have had if you had not reacted inappropriately. When I get negative information, especially about myself or feel that I have been misunderstood, I have to remind myself to take my “BIG GIRL PILL” and move on. The old nursery rhyme is appropriate, “Sticks and stones my break my bones but words will never hurt me”. There is truth in this statement; it takes a mature personal to embrace the principle.

Remember that when you are participating in negativism against someone else, the boomerang of gossip and negative information will always find its owner. We can all stop the power of negativism by being Positive Thinking People.

Fear of Success

Did you know that SUCCESS is FEARED by the majority of the human race? Those that are not successful FEAR those that are and FEAR that their success will continue to be the mirror of failure through which the unsuccessful are defined. Successful people FEAR losing their success and being among the ranks of those that have not gained the success they wanted. Most of us don’t understand how to receive and use success.

The truth, and it really is the truth, is that YOUR SUCCESS is only limited by your thinking. If you think small you will always reap small. If you THINK LARGE you will reap large. Success is only a matter of changing your thinking. Farmers understand this cycle of sowing and reaping. Generous people receive generosity; petty folk receive pettiness in return; negative thinking folk receive negativism; positive thinking folk are successful.

Change your thinking today and become successful. If you don’t know how to think positively just re-read the Morning Messages you receive from me. If you think about the message, the positive thinking and encouragement will make you successful.

Bonding

Teams that don’t bond can’t build. These teams never become a cohesive unit. For a team to be successful, the teammates have to know that they will look out for one another. When a team member cares about no one but him or herself, the whole team suffers. This principle is operative whether you are talking about families, teams at work or an athletic team.

Relationship building is a CORE requirement for teams to be functional versus dysfunctional. You have to know each other to give each other the benefit of the doubt. The longer you stay together as a team the more positive impact you will make. I am always puzzled by people that leave a team just because the situation is difficult. Difficult periods during the life of a team actually give the team character. Unless a relation is abusive, it’s probably worth working through and in. Going to a new team involves the same commitment and perhaps more because it will take building new relationships. Don’t throw away a relationship just because it’s difficult. Stick to and through all relationships to preserve the investment you have made.

Price of Integrity

What price do you place on INTEGRITY? It has been my experience that INTEGRITY is the foundation upon which many other qualities are built, such as respect, dignity and trust. It’s critical to maintain integrity by taking care of the little things. What people forget is that decision makers often entrust others with BIG projects because they have been able to be counted on with little projects!

Ethical principles are not flexible. A little white lie is still a lie. Theft is theft, whether its $1.00 or $1,000 or $1,000,000. Theft is theft whether you steel time from your employer by not working when you are supposed to be working or having a friend clock you in or out. Integrity commits itself to character over personal gain, to people over material things, to service over power, to principle over convenience, to the long term over the immediate.

Keep in mind, a forest like Integrity, takes a long time to develop. It only takes a match to wipe it out.