Stop Worry Before It Stops You.
Color Commentary for Monday, February 18, 2013
By E. R. Haas
"My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories." ~ Bjorn Borg
All last week we talked about the qualities of leadership. Put simply, to be an effective leader you must KNOW your strengths and weaknesses... and constantly strive to improve both your performance and the performance of the people around you.
This week, we will discuss the meaning and importance of PERSISTENCE to your life.
Look closely at the picture above. Yes, there are people out here in Colorado who think hanging off the side of a perfectly good mountain is great fun!
The reason I used this picture is simple. It reinforces the central idea of this week's lessons.
If you intend to climb to the top of the mountain of life—or get anywhere near it—you must persist with passion until you reach your destination... or destiny.
You can have the greatest goals ever conceived... together with the best laid plans ever created... together with an entire army of people willing to help you achieve them.
BUT, if you give up too early—or give in to life's inevitable set-backs and circumstances—your dreams will never move off the page and into your life.
This week, I'll give you 5 concrete ideas on how to take ACTION in the face of fear, uncertainty and doubt... helping you create the mindset for persistent success.
Are You Persistent Enough?
Let's check with the expert! My trusty American Heritage Dictionary defines Persistence as...
1. Refusing to give up or let go; persevering obstinately. 2. Insistently repetitive or continuous. 3. Existing or remaining in the same state for an indefinitely long time; enduring. 4. Continuance of an effect after the cause is removed.
Today, I want you to look out over the rest of the year, and write down 3 things that you will have to overcome to achieve your single biggest goal in the remaining 10 months. Just how HIGH is your climb to the top?
1) ____________________________
2) ____________________________
3) ____________________________
Time Horizon: December 31, 2013.
How will you overcome these barriers to your success?
To be successful, you have to take risks.
The question is, do you have the power to overcome the results of the risks you take?
By taking some time to realistically think about what you are going to face in the immediate future, you will not be surprised when the "bad thing" actually happens.
You will be well-prepared to deal with it.
If you want to put more PERSISTENCE into your performance, start to eliminate WORRY from your life.
Worry wastes time, steals energy and prevents you from accomplishing your goals. There's no reason to worry about something you can or can not fix.
If you find yourself constantly stressed over money, friends, health issues, your children, people at work or your environment -- STOP IT! Identify exactly what you're worried about, and transform that worry into a positive action to resolve the concern.
Take care of IT, before it takes over YOU.
Stop and listen to the audio track for this TQ Factor while you're reading the rest of this page, and while you're completing the exercises below.
This is just one track from our fabulous SYNERGIZE Personal Workshop. If you don't own the complete collection, maybe it's high time to get with the program!
Engage your brain on as many levels as possible and
you'll learn faster, and remember what you've read longer.
"How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality."~ Norman Douglas
Factor 1F's CONTRIBUTION to your performance...
A high commitment to this Factor of your performance suggests you never play the victim to your worries.
By focusing on the actions you can take, rather than the negative conditions of the problem, you maintain your momentum even when besieged with negative situations.
Everyone has reasons to worry, but you're able to work through your concerns without wasting precious energy before correcting or improving the situation.
Once resolved, your energy level actually increases due to positive feelings that come from correcting a bad situation.
Factor 1F's COST to your success...
A lack of commitment suggests you're often a victim of your worries.
You can burn a lot of energy as you sit and picture the most unfavorable things that could happen -- further draining your energy level.
As you focus on "worst case" scenarios, you rob yourself of the energy and motivation needed to take action.
This leaves you with little energy to actually resolve the problem. What's more, these overriding concerns keep you from completing your other tasks.
This leads to a negative spiral of additional stress stealing away more energy.
Like cancer invading the body, worry invading your mind is the single biggest killer of hopes and dreams.
Factor BENEFIT...
What happens when you consistently do Factor 7D? You have more power.
Worries never drain your positive energy for long. You accumulate performance positives like "Revitalized, Enlivened and Proactive" -- immediately moving you towards the results you expect.
What happens when you FAIL to consistently do Factor 7D? You have less power.
You do nothing but sit and worry and end up exhausted.
Negatives like "Stressed, Overwhelmed and Worried" start to take their toll on your performance -- quickly moving you away from the success you want.
The Bottom Line...
Worry is the natural enemy of persistence.
Just how persistently will you pursue your dreams and goals when you are stressed out, burned out and running on empty most of the time?
Remember, there are tangible RESULTS... and then there is everything else. Become known for producing superior RESULTS and you will become successful beyond your wildest dreams.
Don't and you won't.
If you haven't already, right now is the perfect time to take a baseline assessment of your EXPECTATIONS and your POWER to achieve them. I urge you to take the full 100 question TQ Test to baseline where you are now... and what you will need to do differently to achieve your goals this year. -- E.R. Haas, CEO
TQ Integrating Questions...
Understanding how this Factor drives your performance is key to improving it. Sometimes a small
shift in perspective gives you a huge shift in power.
Print this page, take out your pen and invest a few moments to answer the following questions.
Do it now.
Each one is designed to shift your perspective, change your point of view, and to invite specific action.
"Point of view is worth 20 IQ points."
~ E. R. Haas
Power Up Questions:
- What difficult task or decision do you have in front of you today?
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- What things are you presently trying to handle that are beyond your immediate control?
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- What are you worrying about today that's interfering with your productivity?
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Insight Questions:
- What's your biggest worry in life? What information would help lessen this worry?
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- What types of things worry you the most?
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- Which one of your worries would you be willing to delegate to someone else?
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- Are the things you're stressed about right now "big stuff" or "small stuff"? Says who?
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- What is the worst-case scenario for what's bugging you?
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- What positive actions can you take before you leave work today to reduce any concerns you might have awaiting you tomorrow?
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Perspective Questions:
- What is the largest worry in your organization today? What information would help address it?
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- What's your best friend's worry? Exactly what information would be most beneficial to him or her right now?
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- What specific action can you take to influence a situation that's been repeatedly frustrating you?
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Member Comments...
However, since there is no use in worrying about something I can do nothing about... or worrying about something I can do something about... I guess I will just continue to work as SMART and as FAST as I can to do the work I was called to do.
There really is no place for worry in my life. I have far more important things to consume my time... rather than permit petty worries to consume me!
I have had similar concerns at one point in my life, but I no lnger concern myself with this matter. Now I simply keep myself daily in a constant state of activitity that will get me to the next step, which will get me to
the next step and so on.
This I can do been firmly assured that all will end well and in complete excellence just as God had ordained for my life as well as yours, simply because He gave us His many promises which I know cannot be broken. He is completely trustworthy. There is no need to worry about the time alloted to ourlife's assignment for "Being confident of this one thing,that God who has began a good work in you, will keep right on helping you (through His grace) until His task within you is finally finished."
Phil. 1:6
Yes, He it is who will continue to perform it, perfect it, yes indeed He will bring it to completion! He is in complete control!. There is no need to woory about your alloted time to do what He will do through your life (with your total cooperation of course) For again we are told that even the days ordained for our individual lives were ordained before we even existed! Ps. 139:16 says, "You saw me before I was born,and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book." Your days were ordained, shaped and fixed, even before one of them existed!
How best then should we cooperate with God's timing of our lives? Well, I can certainly tell you this. I believe He wants to help us maximize every moment of each slotted 144,000 minutes in each day that He has assigned to our lives, and being the all knowing God that He is, He has allowed you to live within a time frame where digital technology exist and He has raised up a website such as TQ.COM to convey His divine will for our lives by assisting people like you and me to perform at our highest best for His glory, as we approach these closing days of earth's history.
God had also allowed you and I to meet in this way through this wonderful site (even though we may never meet personally, so that we have the legacy of impacting each others life in this manner.
Just keep doing what TQ tells you to do. Believe me they are God's instrument to help us 'Perform on Purpose' as we pursue our God-given purpose.
Thank you for the scriptures that you've shared. Truly, He is faithful to complete the work He has begun in us!
If you want to invest in 10 years plant a tree....
if you want to invest in a lifetime invest in people....
It's a scary vision you have of your potential future but you need to replace it with a new one. You're fear has a lot of detail and I'm sure when you think about it it makes you feel terrible. It's not true!
Replace that picture with something joyful and something that insights passion! Whenever you start to picture that old "false" truth replace it instantly with the new true exciting wonderful future picture. Focus on it and see yourself in the "new" future and make sure you really concentrate on "feeling" how you'd feel if you were already there.
It takes practice but if you do it enough the old picture can't run anymore and the new picture will take over. Once the new picture takes over you will "attract" the things you want and they will be manifested in your life.
Everything starts with a thought. Don't let the worrisome thoughts take hold. Work daily on focusing on what you want. Regardless, whether you focus on what you want or what you don't want you'll get it!
Best wishes, I know you'll end up at 80 in a home you love, still doing things you love and surrounded by friends and family!
failing in my career
health
1. Self discipline in my use of time. Managing me.
2. Making the phone calls to gather information and do the deals.
3. Allowing myself to succeed; taking the steps to break through so my psychology catches up.
Worry about having enough money to carry me until I am productive in business interests.
Linda
Dear Sir,
My mind is always positive and reading your tips, it is really boostup me 100% more.
It's positive enough to get through the day, but not enough to propel me through to action for change. It's brewing though and getting stronger. I need to continue to feed it so that it is stronging enough to create action.
It's throuhg these daily TQs that I feed my positive energy and make it stronger.
Thank you.
I hope to learn how to feed my positive energy and stratigize my moves to delete the worries but face reality head on.
You wish someone would just sit down with you and help you get started then you learn to fly again. Then you have focus and can move through storms, until you reach your destination.
Everytime I read your newsletter I tell myself I just have to find a way to balance all of the duties it requires to be a good mom and wife which is my first priority and still have time to work on obtaining my goals.
It has drained my energy from creating a more positive life.
I am working on this change of habit, it's a stuggle. Which drais more energy.
worn down by fear, loneliness and tireness
Then I remembered Adam Osborne, who was dejected at when his first little computer empire went belly up, and he declared bankruptcy.
The next thing he knew, he was surrounded by entrepeneurs who told him two things: "So, you lost your cherry..." and "Honey, only one? You are just a baby!"
Now, such a cavalier attitude towards bankruptcy bodes ill for any creditors dealing with those particular people, but they had the right end of the stick. One failure does not a doomed life make.
President Carter probably thought he'd failed as president (and a number of history books agree with him). He could have gone into the lecture circuit, blah blah blah.
Instead, he created Habitat for Humanity, and helped rebuild lives and families, one house at a time.
Got a nice trip to Sweden out of it, too.
So I try to make "I'm depressed and so I whine" last only a short while. Sometimes I set a timer for a half hour and tell myself, "I can snark and whine till the bell goes off. And then I have to plan how to get around it." Barbara Sher in _Wishcraft_ recommends keeping a Hard Time Journal so a person can get their whining down on paper and out of their system--same idea. Clear the sinuses first, and then move on.
Oh, yes, and if anybody out there needs some lapel buttons, I'm a really good person to ask, hint hint!
I whine out loud early in the morning -- to may cat, C.J.
Life is hard... unfair... we have to work too hard to make people understand... I am just tired of it all... Why does Bill Gates have MY $3 billion in HIS checkbook??!!!
Poor me. Woe is me.
Pretty much, she just looks at me with that, "Get over it... get on with it... little smirk. Even she is tired of listening to that old song and dance routine.
I swear, one morning she said, clear as day, with one of those long, lonely Mews...
"Unless you're a professional singer... nobody... Mews included... wants to hear you sing the blues!"
This is why she is the hardest working cat in publishing today... works her tail off each morning getting me to hit the keys... just one more time!
Besides, I have found that whining is NOT like fine wine.
Doesn't get better with age!
I will have feel as though I accomplished something that will help me and help others.
The lives I've been able to impact positively and help.
The values I've been able to instill in those around me, leading by my example.
Pril.deviantart.com
also music and my new bold out of the box personality
Simply superb...
A group or organization is successful because they've learned to pursue excellence together, for the common good. Like living cells in the human body, every individual in the group lives to enable all the other individuals in the group...this is called teamwork and where a leader is involved: Servant Leadership. Business is just to complex for any one person to make it successful.
Nations like the United States of America are successful for the same reason. The pursuit of excellence in Government (be it regulating commerce or protecting the inhabitants) is of the poeple, by the people, and for the people...not for the Government itself. And I like what Peter Marshall and David Manuel say about this in their book "The Light and the Glory". Quoting Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Never let yourself be pursuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 158 million followers, it will no longer be America."
Now we need good leaders in business and in government, but what we really need is individual self-leadership...the principle of self-governance at work in our daily lives. For individuals to know themsleves and seek self-improvement and, once sought, to give what they find away for our own good and for the benefit of others. This begins with the philosophy of the home, not the philosophy of schools or government...meaning it must be based first on character, then on competence, and then on class.
In closing, I'll borrow from Marshall and Manuel again: "It is the most dangerous kind of corporate self-delusion to think that a President [any Positional Leader]...can reverse the bent of the national [corporate, group or individual] will, once it is set in a certain direction. And when it becomes apparant that he cannot, he...will become the next scapegoat." Success, at any level, is an individual matter. Whether groups, companies, or countries can be successful simply depends on what those individuals decide to do with their success in the pursuit of excellence. A pursuit because it can be attained. And not as some measure of individual self-worth but because of a personal preoccupation with getting and being good...for themselves and for others. The best that any leader can hope to accomplish, according to Field Marshall Montgomery, is to corral already successful men and women around a common purpose and inspire confidence in their commitment to one another and their collective ability to work together toward a greater goal. As Katzenbach and Smith observed in "The Wisdom of Teams": It is "...obvious that teams outperform individuals....it is not so obvious how top management can best exploit that advantage."
Enjoy these quotes as well:
"When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality." -- Joe Paterno
"Individual commitment to a group effort-that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." -- Vince Lombardi
lol
About my career in specific my major worry is my inability to take action - to take that bold step and fix meetings with people and make presentations. Secondly, my worry is the conservative mindset of the receivers who may not accept my ideas so easily...
Actually it is the second point that is dissuading me from taking the first step....Hmmn...
Thanks, Greg
That number is right behind our post name.
I'm only figuring this out for fun. I could probably be doing more productive things. Maybe I need to consider factor 9b. :-)
Greg
I have a starting problem...
weakness: not keeping up daily routine, specially in the evenings alive
watching tv in the evening, getting to bed late, no yoga in the morning and here we go down the waterline...
thatﾴs standing inbetween me and my goals, I am not strictly enough following my best daily routine times for maximum outcome and best mental strenght!!!
y.e.s.
Chauhan
I haven't given up.
Tamara
Thinking about this quote and the presence of worry in life, I processed things this way:
While I'm definitely prone to reviewing things in my mind that would certainly be less than productive, I would say that prayer and reflection on the love of Jesus do help me to turn away from "the worries of this life."
For instance, I read quote last evening from one of my favorite books (Ruthles Trust by Brennan Manning) that said:
Contemplate the incomparable love of Jesus as he suffocates to death. There is no greater love than this& (John 15:13). For a few minutes stay face to face with the dying Jesus and hear him whisper, Im dying... to be with you.
Obviously, my journey of faith in the past led me to the place where I embraced what I believe to be true in Christ and, therefore, this means something to me and it might not to others.
But, for me, moving forward in the way I would like to continue moving forward does involve:
1. Taking seriously the ministry of prayer in my life.
2. Acknowledging the love of Jesus for me.
These things help me...
Gain perspective,
Add a measure of gratefulness to my day,
And by God's grace continue in the direction I believe God is leading at the moment.
It almost goes without saying we must push through (or beyond some would say beyond) worry to actions and attitudes that propel us in the right direction.
No doubt there is more to the "success equation" for overcoming worry, but these two practices help me during times when I tend to visit my own uniquely labeled street for my particular brand of worry incorporated.
Enjoy the day!
Lee
y.e.s
Therefore my motivation for march is really high, having learnt from the setbacks from feb.
y.e.s.
Thank you for all that you do
I traded some fun time for work that challenges me and charges me all at the same time. The lifelong dream I had when I was 17 gave me a second chance and I took it. Now I have to decide just how far I want to follow it: Hobby distance or to the end. When I answer a call on the ambulance, I know I make a difference. I spend every other weekend responding to emergency calls. I might change someone's life, I might even save it. There's no amount of fun that matches that. Although I do like fun. I have plans for a big vacation overseas and lots of visiting family and friends I haven't seen in ages. But the whole time, my heart will be wondering: Who's answering that call for me? Will they care as much, touch as much, be as thrilled to be needed as I am?
So Now I will learn from my fall back and apply my accumulated knowledge in march for the utmost best results and making up for feb
y.e.s.
Success is selling 10 million dollars worth of Real estate
y.e.s
y.e.s.
china
advance sales
pay down more than expected on my truck
Sell my house.
Pick 3 things I must do this summer.
skydive, Management bump in career.
continue my positive out look on everything.
Change your focus to the positive outcome you want accomplish.
Live with passion & Love!
#2 negative judgement.....when successful.
Acting as a loner does not provide me with a sense of satisfaction.....I was able to deeply understand that after faithfully reading and digesting TQ.
I am making the changes needed to succeed and feel a renewed vitality in my work in high end real estate rentals and in a new project I am undertaking......more on that later. For now I'll say TQ is causing me to go deeper to find some of the missing parts is bringing about a new Mission for this lady.......I'm beginning to feel like Lady Luck!
To this end, i am out of my comfort zone in attending networking events, meeting curious people, and updating my database.
I am learning to ASK for the biz I desire. I am competent to do this work in both my business.
I am therefore learning how to do TWO different actions. GO ME!
I want to PAY OFF as MANY DEBTS as possible.
.Build a savings of $3,000+
.Reduce interest rates on loans.
.PERFECT MY CREDIT SCORE.
I want to get into a HEALTHY - PHYSICAL,MENTAL
CONDITION.
I want to get BETTER ORGANIZED.
Our college has seen a remarkable difference in attitude and performance.
Succes for me will be, December 31, pursuing whatever I have decided on. I am working at the chosen goal, my financial stability is secure, though maybe will still be working on getting out of debt. I have my $1000 cushion saved and am working on getting a 3-6 month cushion. I have enough money to get the necessities and what little else I want, such as magazines, eating out occasionally, and the occasional writing workshop. The kids are out of the house and settled at what they want to do, or at least settled in their own place. I am secure in my dreams, working toward them, and working on my spiritual growth. I have completed the book, Journaling to Spiritual Growth, doing the suggestions as I write, and am much more spiritually mature than I was last year. I am still working on a closer relationship with God, as I will do until I die, but am so much closer today than this time last year.
I am happy with who I am and what I am doing. Success is in the journey, and I am on the right road, following the right map this time.
Having the amount of money in my life that will make a big difference to my family. Living in the home I desire and driving the car of my choice. On my way to having a great Ministry.
My oldest son's (14years) academic performance
My studies-which I am failing.
I am struggeling to advance
Worrying is letting my mind to fly around
Taking action is taking control of my mind
PT
The thing standing between me and my goals is. . . me!
Difficulty scale is 10+, so my attitude needs a dramatic improvement.
er
Too much growth for the capital base, too dicey sales cycles = turbulence = white knuckling!
Always make it through, but would sure love to get off the roller coaster for a few months!
er
I hate losing and NEVER quit.
If you compete against me, expect a long drawn out hard-fought battle.
Expect pain.
I expect to WIN, which is exactly why I WILL.
er
with my goals.
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