What is Success?

by Diane Holz

What is your definition of success? Is it temporary? Is it permanent? Do you think all the people that have gotten a pink slip lately are successful? They still have the same skills, talents, knowledge and experience when they started working for the company. Success is not an end result. It is an ongoing process. There are ups and downs. One day you might have a great day, the next day is so-so. Life and work have become hectic and complicated. There is too much to do and not enough time. There are meetings, voice mail messages, scores of email messages, paperwork, letters to write, proposals to prepare, things to follow up on – that’s a lot of stuff. Everyone has a cell phone now – we are afraid to be out of touch for even a few moments – but how well do you manage all your stuff?

The Effective Edge teaches people how to pare down their data in life to four collection points – your e-mail inbox, voice mail, an In/Out tray for papers and a note-taking device. Then we teach you how to manage those collection points so that you can get to the Executing step as quickly as possible. Why? Because that’s where your success is. Success is based on how much work you accomplish and how many projects you complete.

Many of us strive to achieve a success rate of 100% in all we do, but the goal is to try our best, learn from the experts and take that knowledge to do better the next time. The ultimate goal in life isn’t just to succeed; it’s to continue to succeed; to continue to improve; to continue to be the best that you can be.

One, Two, Three….WHOOSH!

by Diane Holz

Last year our company had quarterly sales meeting that all the staff got to attend. What? Yes, I said ALL the staff GOT to attend the sales meetings. For some people attending a sales meeting would probably be the last thing they want to do. I think they are invigorating…I get to see where the company wants to go, what clients they are courting, what is said to court the clients…making me want to work for this company even more.

At one of the sales meetings I was introduced to a concept new to me. The staff aligned themselves in a circle and then alternately a staff member got into the middle of the circle. While the one staff member was in the middle, the rest of the staff were instructed to clap three times throwing both arms forward while saying WHOOSH! When I was the person standing in the middle of that circle, I felt invigorated…like I could conquer anything.

I have fiddled around with energy flow, but most of the time I don’t have the foggiest idea what I am doing. However, this concept was so easy and changed the whole energy flow. A big WHOOSH! really turned on the vibrations to an elevated feeling: excitement, delight, deep appreciation, power, etc. This is something so easy to do to create a feel good vibration...a power vibration that gives you a rush or buzz.

Why don’t you try it out for 2009, it is still the first month of the New Year. Select one of your 2009 goals and create an intention statement. Put that intention statement into a recurring appointment in your calendar. Read the intention statement daily then clap three times and say WHOOSH! (pulling your outstretched arms over your head like you are pulling in and receiving all the positive energy).

I have to admit I am experimenting. I am calling it my feel good bodily buzz.

Get Out of Your Own Way

by Diane Holz

In our office we have a couple of bookshelves with self-help books, and other books to inspire us. Every time I walk by the bookcase one book in particular always sticks out. It is entitled “Get Out of Your Own Way.”

I always want to stop and read that book. If I can read that book I can switch off the counterproductive parts of my brain and use the parts of my brain that are waiting to align my best energy and brainpower to my goals, hopes, wishes, dreams, and aspirations. If I can just read that book…everything will be better. But that means I would have to let go of something.

We talk about being so busy all the time. But a lot of times, we are distracted by things that are not very important; falling into ruts and routines instead of seizing every chance to give our best to each other and to our work and our family. I chug along on autopilot, a lot of times sidestepping anything new or challenging.

Do you beat yourself up because you don’t have the time to do things for yourself? One of the things taught in our trainings is to schedule time for you. Stop now and take the time to put you on the calendar….go for a walk, watch a movie, listen to music, go to dinner with a friend…or read a book! So easy, so simple.

Hit A Target

By Diane Holz

Most companies have one year, three year, five year and ten year strategic plans. I used to call them the pie in the sky. In our personal lives, do we even have a strategic plan? I used to not bother with the pie in the sky in my personal life. Then, I learned about affirmations. It is a simple thing to do. Write a sentence that states positively or affirms your goals in life. One sentence that I started with was “I have a thousand dollars in my savings account.” When I reached that goal, I changed it to “I have two thousand dollars in my savings account,” and so on. That doesn’t mean that I never spent any of it. I did, over and over again! But somehow repeating that affirmation made it easier for me to put money in savings and harder for me to take it out.

Many of our goals are to stop doing a certain activity; stop spending money, stop gaining weight, stop procrastinating. But as we teach in the class, when you tell your brain a negative statement, it only hears the positive part. So if you keep telling yourself, “I will not spend beyond my limits” your brain recognizes that as a command to spend beyond your limits, and happily complies.

Start thinking about your own goals and write them down as affirmations. Remember, they should stretch you; they should feel uncomfortable. Be sure to include anything you can imagine-education, hope, love, achievement, invention, caring for others, security, you name it.

I still have one affirmation that I keep working on. “I am 125 pounds and my firm, tight body enjoys thirty minutes of exercise every day.” Miracles have happened, right?

The Benefit of the 4D's

by Diane Holz

Hi, I am the Finance Director and it’s my time to be the blogger. You might wonder what the Finance Director can know about productivity. I wondered the same thing but here I am. I would like to tell you one instance (among many) where I have said to myself…wow, this is really good stuff the trainers teach.

The other day I overheard one of the trainers doing a segment of their training session. The marketing person has been listening to video clips of the trainers, selecting which ones to use on our web-site. Since I share the cubicle next to hers, I got to hear one of the trainers say something that really made sense to me and stood out.

The trainer was surmising that some people open their email, read one message and go on to the next message, thinking they will come back to that message and do something with it later. How many of you have done the same thing? At some point you go back and re-read the message, and maybe do something with it – or leave it yet again for another time to deal with it. Think how many emails you get and initially read, go back yet another time and read the email, go back yet another time and read the email, go back yet another time and read the email…and on and on.

I know that I am guilty of reading emails and going on and reading my other emails. Then I go back through and prioritize what I need to do with the emails…leaving some for tomorrow…or another day when I have more time to deal with it. The trainer’s point was, have you then read one email, or have you now read one email ten times?

If you do that with ten emails a day, you are actually then reading 50 more emails a week. I thought…wow, I don’t have the time to read fifty more emails a week I know that for some emails I don’t just read them two times, I know that sometimes I read them three or four times. What makes me do this with my emails –I usually listen to my voice mail, write down the message and what to do and then delete it. Why don’t I do the same for email?

What I know is, it’s time to revisit the 4Ds. After I read this e-mail.

Get A Life

By Diane Holz

One of the things we should all have is a positive work/life balance. To me that means taking time to have fun. I remember when I was growing up, my mom and dad would take us to the lake quite often. By often, I mean two or three days a week. Do any of you remember the days when you woke up and the first thing you did was bring in the milk that was delivered to your front door? Well, my dad was one of those guys that delivered it. My dad worked at Superior Dairies delivering milk. He would get up at one or two AM, make the deliveries and then be off by the time I got out of school.

I remember we went on Tuesdays and Thursdays to Blackie’s Park on Lake Travis and Lake Bastrop on Sunday’s with my cousins (yep, you guessed it, their dad was a milkman, too). I would always have so much fun…and to this day I still LOVE going to the lake. We would sometimes go to the ranch and visit my grandparents and have lunch with them. And we would drag the boat along with us and stop on the way back to have more fun at the lake for four or five hours.

When I reminisce about the “good ole days” I am so proud of my parents for taking the time to have fun. It would have been really easy for my dad to say he was too tired after getting up so early in the morning, or it was too hot; my mom and dad were not ones that got in the water…they sat on the bank watching us. I encourage everyone to take the time to go play and have some fun. Make memories for your kids or just for yourself.