Please dial in for a conference call with Phillip Lechter, President and co-founder of Pay Your Family First. The frequent speaker and educator on financial literacy, will identify key tactics for finding creativity in your children, the importance of building good credit and why this topic so important today.

Thursday, April 7
12:00 p.m. MST

The Truth is we can only control our side of things–so here a few things to consider:

Know their strengths and then push them to use it - If you have a creative person that is not good at details, encourage them to be creative and find a different solution for the details. Let them have some room for creativity.  There are many ways to get from point A to point B.  Yes, most would say the shortest way is a straight line…but how easy is it to be perfect. 

Acknowledge the wins…Dale Carnegie said “pay a sincere compliment”.  Even the small stuff deserves acknowledgment.

Make it their idea - if they believe they contributed in defining what they are doing, they are more likely to care!

Set clear expectations – In a texting society, it is great to get your message across in 140 characters or less, though do we really get our desired outcome across.

At the end of the day, as leaders it is our responsiblity to set people up to WIN and bring out their best.  Their best maybe very different from your best!

1. Ask meaningful questions
2. Find real connections
3. take the conversation in that direction

Why can these 3 simple steps be so challenging…because people will more often remember when someone was interested in them verse someone that talked all about themselves.  To be seen we should be INTERESTED in others while not spending alot of time tring to be INTERESTING.  Contrary to the beer commercial, there are very few people in this world that can claim to be “The most interesting man in the world” but we all can claim to be “the most interested” (in others).

Stay INTERESTED my Friends!

Phil

P.S. Author Blair Singer (SalesDogs) like to say it this way: “Go into their world first”!

Bringing out the best in those around you!

I realize this is not as simple as it sounds.  In fact, it is a constant challenge that requires you to not judge and find faults but to identify the strengths of others and place each person into a role where their strengths are not only utilized but their confidence is raised. 

To be a great leader we must show each person around us how great they can be.  Now I am not talking all about sugar either…some need a kick in the pants while others may need a hug.   The key is that they  ’experience’ a level of confidence that becomes sustainable and self-generated.  It takes setting expectations and following it up with sincere gratitude to move the confidence dial for most people! 

Why is gratitude such a key element…because confidence is built on ‘contribution’ not just ‘results’.  To say it another way: our confidence builds when we make contributions and we are  acknowledged for them.  As leaders we are congratulatory for results though we are grateful for contributions.  Results may put you on a pedestal for a day, but contributions are our legacy that can last for generations.  

Side Thought…What if we approached our kids this way?  The root word of education : educati means ‘to draw out’.  Shouldn’t all parents and teachers consider themselves as leaders?  Shouldn’t we focus our kids on being contributors instead of just achieving results (great grades)?

Such a great take…it reminded me that you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it…So often we have a habit of turning off our BRAIN instead of turning it on.  Another take to this…there is always a solution if you START (notice I didn’t say stop:-)) to think about it.

He never talked about what he read or even that he read from it but it was obvious that he took the mental aspect of the game seriously.  It also worked, from that point forward he scored 9 touchdowns in those last 7 games.

Watching him reminded me of what an old coach of mine once told me “The things that count the most are the things you do when no one is looking.”

So my question is “What do you do when no one is looking to prepare yourself for the game that you are playing?”

Feel free to answer in the comments section!

Let me put it a different way…if you could have that 1 pill to losing weight would you take it. Well the truth is that there is just 1 pill that will do that for you…it is the ‘Work’ pill. You have to work on your body to get your body to change (eating healthy, thinking healthy and exercise). You have to work to get what you want in any of your categories (your Health, Wealth and relationships)…there is no way around that…you cant skip steps in the process.

So the real question is do you know what will motivate you to do the work everyday? Maybe it is time to find out….that is why I reccomend everyone read Drive!

“Most of us believe that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is with external rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That’s a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, his provocative and persuasive new book. The secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.” – Quote from www.danpink.com about the book.</em

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