Monday, September 24, 2012

Do you ever notice when somebody does something to you that really touches your heart, you say, “That really made my day.”  Well, very often you can get your day made by making somebody else’s day.  We read the newspaper and we listen to news all the time about random acts of violence, when people are upset and all we do is feel afraid, unhappy, and angry.  On the other hand, every once in a while, somebody will do something that will make your day.  What are your thoughts about making somebody else’s day?  How about a random act of kindness?  How about you call somebody?   How about you do something sweet to somebody you barely know, something thoughtful, some generosity of spirit?  When you take the initiative to make somebody else’s day, you're going to make your day and that makes the whole day better.  
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
People will resist when they are forced or when they feel forced. Do you ever notice that when you try influence somebody or you try to get them to do something and you have zero intention to try to force them to anything and yet they still resist? Why? Because they feel forced; this means that you unintentionally approach them in such a way that they actually resist even more. They get defensive. So what do you do? You think through about how they might resist and try to position it differently. One of the things I always say is “you reduce resistance by letting people have your way.” If you think about it in that context, you package how you want to approach somebody in anticipation of resistance and then change the approach in such a way that you are going to get less of it.