As leaders, you're always doing something. You move from one activity Leadership Alliance task to the next - as you lead, motivate, negotiate, network, and sell.
But before you really do any of the above actions - especially if you want to have Leadership Training successful outcome - you must give some thought to those actions. You must think and plan. How successful you will you motivate your team, develop business, or network at events, will depend on your planning beforehand.
When your thinking is sharp, you're more likely to be at peak performance -- and your team and organization benefit. When your thinking is stuck, possibilities look dim. You and everyone around you must spend precious time and energy getting through it. Therefore, it is critical for you to maintain clarity in your thinking.
But with so much going on, even the most masterful thinkers amongst us have bad days. When you're drained, longing for that vacation, frustrated and impatient, you've entered the "dead zone" -- an uncomfortable place where productivity is low. You'll do just about anything to get out of this challenging place.
Thinking is a valuable leadership competency. It is one the key leadership competencies in my coaching model. Without focused thinking our actions could often be wasted efforts. Becoming aware your thinking to realize if its working for you or against you will help you become a more productive and effective leader. It is critical to your success.
Yet our thinking is typically taken for granted - like the air we breathe. Thinking, like breathing, comes naturally - it just happens. But when you're on the doctor's examination table with a stethoscope on your back, you're suddenly focused on your breathing. You're conscious of it. In this newsletter, I am going to focus you on your thinking - how to become aware of it and how to create it to work more effectively for you.
To move back into a zone of clarity, confidence, and productivity, check-in on your thinking. Listen to your internal thoughts. Are they positive or negative? Don't just listen for a few moments. Take a whole day. You can do it while you work. Notice your thoughts. Perhaps write them down. Do you detect a pattern in them?
Then follow these four time-tested quick leadership tips I use with my clients. With practice these tips will blast you from a negative thinking rut back to your center of positive personal power.
Tip #1: Reclaim Clarity in 2 Minutes
When you're running from one appointment to another, it's hard to remember to take the time to do a check up on the state of your mind.
Tool: A very important tool that won't cost anything and can be done just about anywhere is to bring yourself back to the present moment. Stop what you're doing, even for a few seconds. Get out of your head. Be here now. Quiet your mind - meditate, stop your thinking. When your mind is quieted, you will feel more relaxed. This will allow you to get back to your powerful center - the place where anything is possible.
Remember as a kid, when grown-ups would give a "time out". You were made to go be by yourself and think about what you did. Quieting your mind is similar. It's a time out. But instead of thinking about what you did, you're focused on thinking about nothing, "no-thing."
Practice: If your time is limited, begin by quieting your mind for 60 seconds. Find a quiet spot. Sit in a chair. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Concentrate on your breathe only. Any thoughts, no matter what they are, that come into your mind -- release. You can always pick them back up again later. As you practice quieting your mind, you'll begin to gain more clarity in your thinking for longer periods of time.
Tip #2: Manage Negativity
Negativity is an energy drain. Something you can't afford in your busy day of running a company or managing a team.
Tool: Become aware of negativity in your surroundings.
Practice: If negativity is externally based -- coming from others, you can choose to walk away from it. You can tell the other person that you're practicing positive thinking and this conversation interferes with it. When you do this, you give yourself a gift of internal peace. Perhaps the other person will get the message.
If negativity is internally based -- coming from you, stop it immediately. Negativity is like a weed in your garden. It multiplies exponentially. The simplest solution is to tell yourself, "Stop, I won't listen to this anymore."
As world-renowned author and my dear friend, Wayne Dyer says, "Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at will change."
Tip #3: The Blame Game
Blame is another way of saying I have no control. You throw your hands up in the air claiming you don't know why he/she/you did this. Blaming others creates victims. You're a leader, not a victim.
Tool: Be On the Look Out for Blame.
Practice: Instead of blaming, acknowledge a mistake was made. When you refuse to blame yourself or anyone, you gain back control. It is a powerful action. We're all human beings prone to making mistakes - sometimes the mistakes are huge. Blame won't grant you an opportunity to learn from the mistake. The beauty of a mistake is that as humans we can learn and grow from it.
Tip #4: Should-have's
I should have done it differently. He should have known better. Should-haves create guilt and doubt in us. They promote negative thinking. After a mistake, a poor decision or an action was taken, can you go back and do it differently? Not usually. Should-haves cloud your reality in the present moment because they live in the past. They bring down your energy level and chip away at your confidence and positive personal power.
Tool: Become aware of the should-haves.
Practice: Next time you hear yourself say, I should have...STOP. Remember, you can't go back in time, only forward. When you stop the should-haves, you'll remove the chains of guilt and blame.
Remember: Only after you acknowledge that you have this incredible tool called thinking, and recognize the power it has over you, can you then work with it, mold it, and shift it when it gets off course. With time and practice, you'll find that you get off course less often.
Happy Thinking!
Nanci Raphael is a powerhouse in the field of executive development and a consummate model for successful coaching results. Her intuitive insights, proven technology, and ability to connect with people transports personal power, limitless potential, and the production of significantly advanced results.
Nanci's robust experience and background gives way to her keen focus on impacting an organization's bottom line. As an executive coach for leaders who are responsible for driving business and accountable for results, she has combined her own experience as a successful entrepreneur, founder and CEO of companies, with the practice of coaching thousands of business leaders. Merge that with her knowledge and passion for executive growth and development, and you will quickly understand why she has been labeled a foremost authority in leadership development and executive coaching.
Nanci has created innovative technology for progressive programs involving intensive coaching integrated to quickly assess the barriers blocking potential and from there to partner in the undertaking of growth for the executive's performance. The basis of this theory is that unlocking human potential allows for individuals to reach results never produced before, therefore, assisting them to grow their businesses exponentially.
Nanci's coaching engagements have included public and private enterprises, Fortune 500 companies to entrepreneurial organizations, where she coaches: C-level executives, senior management, entrepreneurs, and newly hired and emerging leaders.
A nationally recognized leader and published author in leadership development, Nanci Raphael's articles appear in such publications as Wall Street Journal's Careerjournal.com and The Philadelphia Inquirer and she has been featured in The Philadelphia Business Journal, Woman's World Magazine, and Main Line Life. She is currently writing a book to be published next year on entrepreneurs and leadership.
106.7 KPOV, BENDS COMMUNITY RADIO STATION is looking for energetic volunteers to do everything from database entry to tending Booth at summer events. Contact: 541-322-0863 or info@kpov. org.AARP TAX-AIDE needs volunteers in Central Oregon to provide free basic services to seniors and low Leadership Organization residents. Free training will be provided in January. Contact: Doug King, 541-388-1772.