Mark S. Brown – Page 57

Celebrating One Hundred

“I look at victory as milestones on a very long highway,” said Joan Benoit Samuelson. This post represents my 100th post. I have published one article a week for the last 100 weeks. I never had a specific goal or milestone when I started, other than consistently posting information that can help others.

As I reflect on what I think this site has provided, and how it should it should look in the future, I have these thoughts.

1. Embrace video as a delivery method. In the last two years, video has grown as the most popular method to publish a short message. I should record and post short videos as well as written messages.

2. Increase the email frequency to my subscribers. A newsletter once a month can easily be lost in the deluge of mail each of us receive. A short weekly newsletter might better serve you and I.

3. Make the content easier to search. I did not use search tags when I started 2 years ago, and I have never added them. I did not realize at the time how it would help find articles on specific topics.

Those are three thoughts that I have. If you have a suggestion for an improvement, please send me a message. Thank you for reading, and keeping me motivated. One hundred articles was not a goal, and it is not something I have achieved so I can stop and be done. It is just a achievement that motivates me to keep on writing!

Help Others to Help Yourself

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” Helping others also increases your influence. As your influence increases, so does your leadership.

If getting better was as simple as helping someone, there would be many more great people. Making a habit of helping others will allow you to grow and improve. Creating consistent behaviors that drive success, and working with passion and diligence will allow you to succeed where others fail.

We get better at doing when we get better at teaching. We get better at teaching when we truly have a desire to help and teach.

Do you have a desire to help others? What action do you need to take today? What change do you need to make to increase your ability to help others? What lesson is here that you can teach?

Stop Limiting Yourself

When do you let limitations control you? Peter McWilliams once said, “When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them.” To be successful, you must think of obstacles as opportunities. When you approach life with a positive attitude, the challenges you face will make you stronger.

Napoleon Hill has said, “There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.”

This week’s reflection exercise is to think about the limitations you have placed on yourself. Select the largest and determine how you can eliminate it from your thinking.

Motivation Check Up

What do you think is the number one way to increase motivation? If you said, give recognition, you are right. It is almost overly simple, and so inexpensive. Yet, it is also routinely overlooked in daily interactions between team members.

What do you think is the number one way to decrease motivation? The easiest way to completely demotivate someone is to criticize them in front of others. If you have ever been on the receiving end of this type of treatment, I am sure you remember how you felt. The rest of your day was probably very unproductive.

Many successful methods for motivating others, have an opposing method that results in destroying motivation. Some of these demotivating behaviors include being inaccessible, showing favoritism, or failing to train or support someone.

For this week’s reflection exercise, make a list of actions you can take to increase the motivation of your team. This could include adding positive behaviors, or eliminating negative behaviors. Once you have the list, make a plan to act on it.