There is tremendous value to be found in focusing on the topic of re-positioning.  If you are not happy with the direction that your business and/or your life is headed then redesign it by re-positioning three key components - your expectations, your words and your actions.   To achieve a new result, requires you to do something different. 

Will Smith has made Hollywood history, and his personal "magic formula" can accelerate your business growth, and income.  One of his recent films, Hancock, brought in $107.3 million in box office receipts in the first week.  This makes him the first actor to star in eight straight movies that brought in over $100 million. 

Simply put, Will Smith is the industry's most "bankable" man.  How does he do it?  A recent USA Today article reveals his secret:  "I study patterns," he says. "Nine out of the top 10 biggest movies of all times have special effects; eight out of 10 have creatures in them; seven out of 10 have a love story. So if you want a hit, you might want to throw those in the mix.   I just study patterns and try to stand where lightning strikes."

Re-Positioning

Dewitt Jones - a freelance photographer for National Geographic has a favorite credo "position yourself in the place of highest potential."  Do you see a striking similarity with Will Smith's strategy of studying where lightning strikes and simply move to that location in advance?

This sums up the essence of re-positioning.  If your business and/or life are not running as you want, not providing the results you desire, not meeting your expectations, and/or falling short of your hopes and dreams - then you need to re-position yourself in some way.  Simply doing the same things over and over, expecting a different result is madness - I think Albert Einstein was the one that said as much.

A critical skill in business is the ability to pause, find a vantage point that allows you to see 360 degrees - behind, ahead, and all around your current location/place.  By temporarily stopping from working in your business, and taking some time to work on your business, important revelations can come forth.  In fact, three keys to creating a new, better result include rest, reflection and revelation.  This new, better result fits hand in glove with the concept of re-positioning.

Re-Position Your Expectations

The first of the applications of re-positioning is relative to your expectations.  During your time of rest/reflection/revelation - ask yourself - what expectations do you have for your business and your life?  Are they aggressive, growth oriented, positive, bold, huge, and even scary BIG?

What you expect - you tend to get.  So if your results are not what you want, examine your expectations.  Over time, it is easy to let the world wear you down and cause you to lower your expectations, let them turn sour and/or south (neither one is good!). 

Change your expectations as a key first strategy to re-position your business and your life!  Study the patterns in your industry - look for the lightning.  Find the location of highest potential - then get about moving that way. 

Become Word Conscious – Re-Position Your Words

The power to change your business and your life rests in your words. Simple statement - but big truth!  A lot is being said about thinking. However, it's your spoken words that get the desired results.  Words are physical "containers" of your thoughts.

Do yourself a favor and accept this challenge: for one week be very attentive and conscious to the words flowing from your mouth.  Especially notice the automatic responses you tend to use without even thinking.  These are strong clues to what's in your heart and mind!   This is where journaling can be a handy tool. 

Write down the expressions and words you use throughout the day - what do you say in high stress situations, what about in casual conversations, what about when thinking about your business?  By writing it down and then reviewing it weekly you will be able to see a pattern emerging.  Once you identify certain expressions, you can then acknowledge what your tendencies are and, therefore, can start to change your habits.

Consider the various business situations you encounter in your daily life.  Determine those that are causing you stress or attracting unwanted results.  Ask yourself – what words are you using to express that situation.   Replace words that dis-empower with words that empower.  "Should, must, and have to" become "could, want, and choose to."   

Pay attention to the intensity of the words you use. Are they appropriate to the situation?   Notice the metaphors you use, they will reveal how you are choosing to approach your business.

Re-Position Your Actions

The power to change your business and your life rests in your the actions - the ones you take, and the ones you don't.  If you take SMARTER ACTIONS, you generate more POWERFUL RESULTS. 

My all time favorite refrigerator magnet says, "If Nothing Changes, then Nothing Changes".  What a great summation about the importance and power of re-positioning your expectations, your words, and your actions.   To get a different result in your business and your life requires change – commit to some business and personal re-positioning!  

 

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them".

- Henry David Thoreau

Choose Excellence. Otherwise, Mediocrity just shows up in its place.

If there is one thing that separates the few who reach excellence, from the masses that wallow in mediocrity, it is this: A willingness to go beyond one's limitations, by operating outside a level of safety and comfort.

To embrace excellence, we must shun mediocrity, despising it as a sinister enemy and guarding against its intrusion into our attitudes and endeavors. As the late Jamie Buckingham wrote, "The risk-free life is a victory-free life. It means lifelong surrender to the mediocre. And that is the worst of all defeats."

You must actively REJECT MEDIOCRITY.

If you do not ACTIVELY REJECT mediocrity, you are unwittingly choosing it over excellence-and will be traveling down a road littered with broken dreams and failed expectations. Put simply, you are unwittingly choosing Mediocrity over Excellence.  ER Haas - CEO of ThinkTQ, Inc. lists 10 choices you must make each day, each hour, even each minute, to GUARANTEE that you are on the road to GREATNESS... rather than heading down the road to MEDIOCRITY:

1.      Choose to be ENERGETIC-instead of permitting yourself to become run-down and burned-out.

2.      Choose to be PASSIONATE-instead of permitting yourself to become aimless, apathetic and indifferent.

3.      Choose to be ENTHUSIASTIC-instead of permitting yourself to become half-hearted and discouraged.

4.      Choose to be SELF-DIRECTED-instead of permitting yourself to become directionless and uncertain.

5.      Choose to be PREPARED-instead of permitting yourself to become shortsighted and reactive.

6.      Choose to be FOCUSED-instead of permitting yourself to become scattered and impulsive.

7.      Choose to be SUPPORTIVE-instead of permitting yourself to become critical and judgmental.

8.      Choose to be SYSTEMATIC-instead of permitting yourself to become haphazard and disorganized.

9.      Choose to be TIMELY-instead of permitting yourself to become distracted and preoccupied.

10.    Choose to be PROACTIVE-instead of permitting yourself to become procrastinating and hesitant.

 "Mediocrity always attacks excellence." - Michael Beckwith

Today there seems to be such an extreme vacuum of leadership - in Washington DC, in businesses, in local government, in education, in churches, even in families.  One diagnosis of this malady is the lack of honorable intent among existing leaders.  There seems to be such a focus on the bottom line, the what's in it for me, the special interests.  How often have we all railed against 'special interests'.  But guess what, if you are honest, we all have belonged to that infamous group of special interests in one respect or another.

If you establish crystal clear expectations aligned with the results  you want (your WHAT), and execute brilliantly to achieve those expectations (your HOW), then you will be ahead of 90% of the pack.  However, if you want to make a difference, to change the world, to leave a legacy, then I challenged you to add a third component to your personal and business performance - HAVE HONORABLE INTENT (your WHY). 

Now if you really want to push the envelope, raise the bar, go to a higher place on honorable intent – then simply add the words 'beyond you' – so now make your goal to HAVE HONORABLE INTENT (your WHY) BEYOND YOU (your WHO)! 

One final thing – the icing if you will, be willing to invite and be able to withstand scrutiny from others that share similar worldviews. 

You see, lots of things can have honorable intent - to lose weight, to stop swearing, to spend more quality time with family, to spend less and save more, to watch less TV.  However, many of those things are primarily for your benefit.  Sure, others can and will benefit from those actions, but at the core of your motive are probably your own desires.  Nothing wrong with that - often that is the best driver we can have to change habits and accomplish great things.

However, what if you pushed your honorable intent to go beyond you -- to make it more about others and less about you.  What if your business intent was more than to make more money to improve your lifestyle and even the lifestyle of your employees?  What if it was to be a catalyst to transforming a community by eliminating poverty, or reducing adult illiteracy, or to improve the lifestyle of senior citizens in their last days, or ease the financial burden of the woman's shelter.  Couldn't you allocate some profit, or assets, or people to make a difference in some community area that is in need.

"A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and

set out to accomplish it.  He should make this purpose the

 centralizing point of his thoughts. 

It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus

his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. 

He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into

ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. 

This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought.

Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained

will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new

starting point for future power and triumph." ~ James Allen

 

 "Waste no time arguing what a good man should be.  Be one." 

- Marcus Aurelius

 "The best way to end an argument about whether a stick is crooked,

is to lay down beside it a straight stick."   

- Unknown

Building Excellence

Leaders do not command excellence, they build excellence.  Excellence is "being all you can be" within the bounds of doing what is right for your organization. To reach excellence you must first be a leader of good character.  Excellence starts with leaders of good and strong character who engage in the entire process of leadership.  And the first process is being a person of honorable character.

"We define character as the sum of those qualities of moral excellence that stimulates a person to do the right thing, which is manifested through right and proper actions despite internal or external pressures to the contrary." 

- U. S. Air Force Academy

Character affects every area of our lives - our beliefs, our thoughts, our decisions, our words, our actions, our attitudes, our goals, and our relationships.  In fact, any breakdown in life can almost always be traced back to a breakdown in character.

Character develops over time. Many think that much of a person's character is formed early in life. However, no one really knows exactly how much or how early character develops. But, it is safe to claim that character does not change quickly. A person's observable behavior is an indication of their character. This behavior can be strong or weak, good or bad. A person with strong character shows drive, energy, determination, self-discipline, willpower, and nerve.

The Nine Building Bricks of Character - "TRACER DOGS"

>Trustworthiness    >Respect    >Attentiveness    >Compassion    >Enthusiasm    >Responsibility    >Discretion    >Obedience    >Gratitude    >Service 

 

"The time is always right to do what is right."  

- Martin Luther King, Jr. 

"Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character."

- Henry Clay