How do you show appreciation in your life? What makes you feel appreciated? Here are a few appreciation-related posts you may have missed. Click the links to read the full message.
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
“You are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.”
Today’s quote can be extremely helpful in the development and enhancement of relationships, especially for men.
A few months ago, I attended a coaching conference. One of the key “conversation starters” was John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.
Given the importance of relationships to maximize the benefits of the coaching process, we were “all ears and all in,” seeking greater mastery for ourselves and our clients.
If you are a student of Gray’s work, it is pretty apparent that many men have a limited attention span in certain conversations, and almost always seek to solve or fix problems even when the other party has made no request of them to do so.
Where and with whom would seeking to understand others better make a significant difference in both your professional and personal relationships?
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Who are the people in your professional or personal worlds that seem to carry a very heavy load throughout their days?
How burdened do you feel given your own backpack of commitments, priorities, and responsibilities?
What are the costs to your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being?
When eustress—the positive and productive form of stress—exceeds its limits, it cascades over the threshold into distress, which can significantly impact our immune systems and can even lead to disease.
Take 5 to 10 minutes to lift your foot off the gas pedal of life and do a Google search on “Stress Management” or “Self-Care Strategies” to help you lighten your approach to life.
Feel free to reply to this post with the strategies or approaches you commit to taking.
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Our delightful grandson Weston stayed with us recently to give his mom and dad a break, and give us a treat. He has a particularly robust appetite and often makes messes, as if many children were having a food fight.
With the latest and greatest in bottles and cups, the incidents of spilled milk have gone down considerably.
We all expect to deal with the messes made by young children, but how well do you deal with your own mistakes, or those of other grownups in your world?
How easy is it to accept these mishaps and move on rather than ruminating or beating yourself up?
Where and on what matters would a “Done is Done” approach to your day help you lead a calmer, more satisfying life?
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Who have been the most influential people throughout your life, helping to shape your character?
Examine your most favorable and admirable traits to see when they were developed. What made you decide, intentionally or by default, to adopt your temperament, personality, and general approach to life?
On the flip side, what are some of your bad habits and less desirable character traits? What people or other factors influenced these qualities and behaviors to become your less than optimal self?
Take a good long and objective look at the company you keep. Where is it time for an upgrade? Where might you perhaps delete some viruses or other character software running in the background?
What gives your life meaning? Here are a few meaning-related posts you may have missed. Click the links to read the full message.
“Her soul was too deep to explore by those who always swam in the shallow end.”
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Did you know that the self-storage industry generates revenue of 38 billion dollars annually and that almost 10 percent of households use them? Many also have basements and garages full of stored items.
The volume of self-storage units in the United States alone could fill the Hoover Dam with old clothes, skis, and keepsakes more than 26 times.
Beyond the costs, consider the maintenance and generalized stress caused by the clutter and junk most of us would never pay for again if given the chance.
What are some strategies to lighten your load to live a simpler and perhaps more minimalist lifestyle? At the same time, what are a few life experiences you wish to collect that may only take up space on your camera or computer hard drive? What actions will you take today to make progress in both areas?
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Did you know that it takes 5-7 times the effort and resources to obtain new customers than to keep existing customers?
With this statistic in mind, how much effort have you and your organization focused on new customer acquisition rather than making sure your current customers are delighted with you, your products, and of course, your level of service?
Customer loyalty is worth billions, however, we often slack off on our best behaviors once we close the deal. Much like when we say our “I Do” to our life partners. Given the divorce rate of about 50%, we all can see the need to maintain and more appropriately improve these relationships if they are to prosper.
What are some ways you can and will double down on your levels of service in your professional and personal communities? What would be the value of the loyalty generated?
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Consider all the roles and responsibilities you have in a typical day. How is it that you create value in your professional and personal communities?
Which of these efforts create the greatest intrinsic and extrinsic value for others and at the same time bring the greatest joy and life satisfaction to you?
Consider the overlapping of these areas as your personal and professional brand or niche. How much of your day do you expend in these efforts versus those that feel like an obligation or burden?
What are your special talents and unique abilities that light you up and solve meaningful problems in the world?
How might you realign your daily efforts to spend far more of your precious time doing what you were meant to do?
Where do you stand on the two words of today’s quote?
More specifically, where do you stand as it relates to the following communities:
As a boy, I attended Creighton Elementary School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of my fellow students was Kim Sledge of the singing group, Sister Sledge, who became pretty famous for their hit song, “We are Family.”
Where can and will an “everybody matters” family approach to your various communities improve your world? What difference could this make to improve our planet if we all treated each other this way?
Consider checking out Bob Chapman’s book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People like Family.