#success #HelpingOthers #BecomeWhatYouThink
It’s been said that one may be in business for himself, but not by himself.
In almost everything we do, others play a part.
We can choose to USE others for our own gain, to their detriment. Or, we can choose to help others succeed, hence we succeed.
“In helping others, we shall help ourselves. For whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us,” says Flora Edwards, a South African-born industrialist.
Edwards’ words are among the array of wisdom nuggets in the book, “The Power of Positive Doing: Getting Good at Getting Results,” by BJ Gallagher, with a forward by Ken Blanchard.
Too many of us have worked for people who depended on our success, but were indifferent about us. We, in essence, were a tool in their toolbox. THEIR success was all that mattered to them. If we became successful in the process, so be it. If we didn’t (read: we did the work but didn’t get paid what we deserved), it was of no matter to them.
Like any tool, if we left, or broke beyond repair, they replaced us.
The true situation we would all like to be in was working WITH someone who had a vested interest in our success. They would have so much of a vested interest, in fact, that they would do whatever they had to do to ensure our success.
Those folks, it seems, are few and far between.
But, as a person, one cannot focus on what others may do to you, or for you.
One must focus more on what one can do for others. Whom do you want to help? Whom do you want to succeed? If you begin to think that way, success will come to you in good time.
Success may not be instantaneous. Favors may not be overtly returned immediately. But the right attitude and subsequent action by you will bring the eventual results you are looking for.
OK, it’s nice to think that way, but, as a practical matter, how does one achieve what he thinks about?
Perhaps your current job doesn’t allow you the flexibility to help the people you want to be successful.
There are several vehicles out there that, with a little part-time effort outside of your job, you can help others achieve success, and you, in turn, can be successful. To check out one of the best, message me.
Gallagher’s book focuses on not just thinking right, but taking the action needed to make what you are thinking happen.
Too many folks have the right ideas, but are afraid to act on them because, for example, they were raised to look for security, rather than take bold steps toward their dream.
Others fail to act out of fear of what others may think of them. As most successful people will tell you, being successful may require you to be different from the rest.
So, go forth and help others. Your rewards may not be immediate or obvious, but eventually, they will come in abundance.
Peter
Tag Archives: BJ Gallagher
LEADERSHIP AND OZ: BRAIN, HEART, COURAGE
#TheWizardofOz #leadership #workplaces
Even if you’ve read the book or seen the movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” you may not realize that it offers great lessons in leadership.
Workplace expert BJ Gallagher brings some of those lessons to light in her book, “The Leadership Secrets of Oz: Strategies From Great and Powerful to Flying Monkeys – Unleash Some Magic in Your Management.”
Using actual lines from the book and/or movie, Gallagher addresses how one can build brains, heed your heart and cultivate courage.
To jog one’s memory, Dorothy and her three sidekicks were looking to Oz to provide each with the one thing they thought they lacked. The point is that they didn’t lack that characteristic at all. The wizard helped give them the perspective they needed to see that they indeed had what they needed all along.
Sometimes, when we think we don’t have something, or believe we can never find that one thing that we believe will put us over the top, often it is our perspective that is lacking, as Andy Andrews often writes and speaks about.
Have you ever heard someone say, “if I just had a …, I could do …?”
Perhaps what they don’t have is money. They may have a job, but perhaps live paycheck to paycheck. Perhaps they are overwhelmed with debt.
Perhaps they really want something – a nice car, for example – but believe it takes the money they don’t have to get it.
There are many ways to get money while still working that job that doesn’t pay enough, in a person’s mind.
First: spend less and save more. It’s old advice, but still applicable today. If you are young, you can get your nice car, if that’s your dream, but perhaps not right away. If you skip, say, one trip to the coffee shop every day, and saved the money you would otherwise spend there, eventually you’ll have the money put away for that car. Better yet, buy a container that will keep your coffee hot for a long time, make your own coffee, skip the coffee shop altogether and save what you would have spent there. You’ll be driving those dream wheels even sooner.
By the way, while saving for the car, put a few bucks into an account for your retirement. You never know when the day will come that your job will go away. The more and the longer you can save, as well as invest wisely with good trusted advice, the bigger your smile will be when your job eventually goes away.
Second: take a second job or, better yet, use a few non-working hours to help generate an income that could be even better than that from a second job. Maybe it could even outpace your main income source. There are many such vehicles out to help you do that. To check out one of the best, message me.
One can dictate his own future by the right perspective on each circumstance. The Oz characters came to realize that what they lacked was not lacking at all. They simply lacked the perspective that could help them better see what they had.
We all make choices. We all have circumstances. Sometimes, seeing opportunity amid catastrophe requires merely a new perspective. Sometimes, looking at other ways to do things that may be different from what you are used to can turn catastrophe into a dream come true.
Peter
LIFE AND PURPOSE
#life #purpose #MakeADifference
“The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.”
That quote, from Polish-born writer Leo Rosten, is one of many inspirational quotes and words in the book, “The Power of One: How One Person Can Make a Difference,” by BJ Gallagher and Steve Ruttenberg.
Let’s dissect the quote for a minute. If you work for someone else, perhaps you only want to be productive enough that the boss will pay you, and keep you around awhile.
If you work in a place in which only the owner of your company, and a few key executives, are getting rich, and you are not, that feeling is understandable. Why, after all, would you want to give your all so that they can take all – or at least the lion’s share.
Then, think about how much you matter to them. They may like your work, and may even think pretty highly of you. But how much are they going to sacrifice to make sure you don’t leave? Chances are, they see you as nothing more than a tool, a human resource. If they determine that you are costing them too much, or they need to reorganize and get rid of a few people, do you think they are going to care about what happens to you?
They may say nice things, but they will tell you they had to make some “tough decisions.” Some employers, undoubtedly, honestly feel bad about letting people go. But most of them aren’t going to take money out of their pockets to make sure there is money in yours.
Rosten, undoubtedly, was not thinking about employer-employee relations when he spoke those words.
He was referring to what’s inside YOU. Are you doing things in your world, if not at work, outside of it, that matter to others? Are you helping others, to borrow from the late Zig Ziglar, get what they want, thereby getting what you want?
It can be tough to matter. It can be difficult to be productive, generous, humble, even honest.
It can be hard to like everyone.
But Rosten’s words say that we should strive to be and do all those things.
Personal happiness, perhaps, is selfish in his mind. But without personal happiness, it will be a struggle to be the person you want to be – someone others see as valuable.
One does not have to be financially rich to give happiness. But one must strive to give what he can so others can succeed.
Some bosses want you to give, so they can take. You’d much rather give so that others can get and, by extension, you can get as well.
If you see yourself as a giving person, or are striving to be, but are looking for the best way you can give, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You’ll see stories of people who became successful by finding the best way to give to others.
You can stay on the treadmill of a job, with a boss who doesn’t care about you. Certainly, if it pays well enough, you can sock enough money away to leave that job sooner rather than later. If you are lucky, you’ll be able to hang in as long as you want to.
But that may not be the way YOU want to be productive, to matter or to make a difference. You may have to look for the best way for you to do that.
Peter