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Home / 2019 / February

February 2019

Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

When you are younger you don’t realise it, but something happens when you turn 50. Call it an awakening of sort or maybe a tipping point.

Personally, it was as if a cloud had been lifted and I could finally see what mattered in life.

The realisation hit me like a sledgehammer. For half a century I had been on this earth. That is a long time!

Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

“All of my favorite people – people I really trust – none of them were cool in their younger years.” – Taylor Swift

And damn, I was now playing the second half of my life. This coming of age came with a feeling of both urgency and freedom.

It is the perfect time to take stock of your life. To reflect on where you’ve succeeded and where you’ve failed. To reminisce over the opportunities you’ve passed up and those you’ve taken advantage of.

A time to ask yourself what you want to change.

And to ask yourself what you love.

How do you want to traverse through the next half of your life?

A Roadmap when you are younger

Contemplating on my younger years, I needed an older and much wiser person to take the time to help me create a roadmap for a life of creativity, joy and meaning.

It could have saved a lot of confusion, sorrow, time and worry.

And I suspect it would have given me clarity, a sense of calm, and self-assuredness as I journeyed through this very complicated and challenging world.

Accepting all of that, here are some of the things I would’ve liked to tell myself a few decades ago when I was younger:

1. You have to choose yourself.

If you tend to think of your priorities before everyone else’s, you’ll have much more energy to help others. Make your well-being your top priority.

At the risk of sounding sexist, men may find this easier to achieve. This due to the traditional role of women being the caretakers of the family.

However, practising self-care is not selfish. It is a necessity if you want to lead a rich and productive life.

We are all designed with muscles, nerves and brain cells that are intended for outstanding things.

Like dancing until 2 in the morning, childbirth, and mountain climbing. You can learn geometry, or you can walk the Incan Trail, and your brain and body will take all of it in their stride.

And amazingly, you get to sleep it off and do it all over again.

Even better, you will be able to do this over and over for many, many years, especially if you look after yourself from a younger age.

If you forego too much alcohol and stupid drugs, begs the question what the smart drugs are? And those extra helpings of cake and walking in front of speeding cars.

2. Nothing is worth sacrificing your health for.

Most people do not realise that most diseases are related to their lifestyle choices. If they did, they might get serious about including exercise, nutrition, and relationships into their daily life.

Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

“There’s always time to grow older. You can never grow younger.” – JoJo Siwa

Society talks a lot about destressing, while the majority of us are doing the opposite and still lead stressful lives. When you are younger you think you will go on forever, that you are indestructible. Time teaches you something different.

3. Surround yourself with people who support your growth and love you.

When was the last time you spent time with someone who is judgemental, negative, or an energy vampire? How often does that happen? How much of your time is spent with people like that?

Stop making excuses for the toxic people in your life.

Keep anyone who is consistently negative at a distance. Imagine that your five closest friends are a mirror of what you think of yourself. What values do they mirror?

Time to ensure that those closest to embody values and attributes you cherish.

4. You have to get comfortable with using the NO word.

Saying YES gets to be a habit, and it takes practice to catch yourself. But once you get out of the habit of saying YES, you’ll be delighted to see how much energy and time you have to pursue your passions.

5. Only your perception should influence your choices.

We can easily fall into the trap of doing what we think we should do. People are always offering their opinions on what we should do. And while they may be well-intended, their perception is not our perception.

So we fill our lives up with stuff they think we “should” do. And then we rarely feel fulfilled.

Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

“When you’re older, you want to be scared because you understand more where the boundaries between fantasy and reality are, and I suppose they are more blurred the younger you are.” – David Tennant

Time to replace “I should” with “I want” or “I choose to” and see what YOU come up with.

Chances are you’ll be surprised by the results. When you chase the approval of others, it drains your energy, and it keeps you from uncovering the best parts of yourself.

Call on the wisdom of your inner self and remind yourself that you only need to please yourself and no one else when you catch yourself in those moments of self-doubt.

6. Affirmations push you forward, while doubts hold you back.

People spend so much time questioning whether or not they’re good enough, smart enough, attractive enough. When that inner critic pipes up, replace whatever it says with the phrase, “I am enough” or “I am the designer of my life.”

Are you willing to try this? The number of clients who are astounded by the results when they try this technique is astonishing.

They tell me how they feel that a weight has been lifted off their shoulders. And that their self-perception enjoys massive improvement. Who wouldn’t like more of that?

7. Find time to be still.

Society places a high priority on hustling, productivity and keeping busy. So we follow the herd, wake up and immediately jump on that treadmill.

Try giving yourself ten 0r 15 minutes of quiet time in the morning. When you do, you will start your day from a calm and centred state This will help you because whatever happens to you afterwards you’ll be able to respond thoughtfully rather than instinctively.

8. Love yourself before you love anyone else.

Many years ago, maybe even two decades ago I started suggesting looking at yourself in the bathroom mirror each morning and saying “Good morning. I love you.”

Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

“I wish that more people, especially young people, were taught about self-love at a younger age.” – Jamila Woods

Yeah, I hear you, it sounds corny, but when you do it, you’ll come to appreciate yourself more. You will discover your internal beauty and will develop greater self-love by making this one small change.

9. Let gratitude change your life.

It only takes five minutes to develop a daily gratitude practice. Nothing eleaborate, just sitting with a notebook and taking stock of what you are grateful for each morning or each evening.

Write down in a quick list format whatever comes to my mind. The key to the exercise is allowing yourself to experience the feeling of gratitude.

Say you have a truly great cup of coffee, take a deep breath and revel in the sensation of appreciation you have for that cup of coffee.

10. You need to be your own best friend.

To live an abundant, meaningful, and productive life you need to become familiar with your moods, motivations, and deepest desires.

Instead of sleepwalking through your day, on autopilot, do a check-in. Every few hours ask yourself, “How do I feel?”

When you have a strong negative reaction to something, take note of it. Endeavour to determine why. Notice when you feel creativity, fun, pleasure, joy, and spirituality.

When you become aware of these positive experiences, then you can find ways to incorporate more of them into your daily life.

11. You are responsible for yourself.

When we are younger, when things go wrong we look for external and not internal reasons. Blaming external circumstances for your unhappiness is futile. It only tends to perpetuate your unhappiness.

Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

“When I was younger, I had this fairy tale that you can have the eight hours of sleep and be a healthy, balanced person and still achieve your goals. The reality is, that hasn’t always been the case.” – Lilly Singh

Alternatively, when you find yourself having a BMW (Bitch, Moan, Whine), affirm to yourself, “It is down to me, I am responsible for my own life, and I choose to create an outstanding one.”

12. Believe in your abilities.

You have the ability and power and to create a life that you deeply desire. Once you own that deep in your soul, you will experience the power you truly possess. And this, in turn, will inspire you to make changes.

You will realise that there is a solution to practically every problem and more importantly that you can figure out what that solution is.

13. Listening teaches you more than talking.

You need to learn the art of listening. And you can do it at any age, but it is even better to learn it when you are younger.

Being an excellent listener will allow you to develop more profound and more intimate and deeper connections with people. And this is the case whether it is an old friend, a stranger, a family member, or even in business.

As an added benefit, you will also have more engaging and interesting conversations, and this will keep your mind active and growing.

14. Curiosity is the cure to boredom.

Society places great importance on expertise and productivity. To live a creative and rich life, you need exposure to new practices and concepts.

Approach life that there is always more to learn, even in the areas you are considered an expert and you’ve been exploring for years. Remember when you were younger and you approached everything with a sense of curiosity?

Be willing to fail. Let go of perfectionism. The liberation It will reveal so many possibilities.

15. Forgiveness costs nothing.

When you are unable to forgive others, it is often a sign that you struggle to forgive yourself. Forgiveness costs nothing. Hatred costs everything.

How silly and senseless that many of us hold deep grudges indefinitely.

Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

“Always wear a smile sometime during the day – it makes you feel happier and look younger.” – Kylie Bax

When you catch your inner voice making angry or critical or comments about others, acknowledge that your feelings toward them are actually a reflection of your feelings about yourself.

The process of noting these feelings and reminding yourself to let them go will dissolve your feelings of anger and judgment. But prepare yourself for the rush of positive energy, relief, openheartedness, and compassion that follows.

16. Doing one thing well rather than three things poorly.

Multitasking is a myth. We have been misled to believe that success means multitasking all day long.

This is very difficult when you are younger, but when you slow yourself down and practice being present and focused in each moment, you’ll experience a richer and more meaningful life.

Wherever you are right now, try this: Stop what you’re doing. Be still. Clear your mind. Take three deep breaths. Then do it over again.

17. Your job is to create the life of your dreams.

Everyone has moments of self-doubt. It is in those moments, that you need to let your wiser self remind you that you’re clever, creative, and highly intelligent.

To create the life of your dreams takes the drive and desire to keep making it happen.

If you commit to it, believe in yourself, and take action, you’ll always find a way to create an outstanding life. And ignore anyone that tells you otherwise.

  • 27 February, 2019
  • Personal Development, Super Ager
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16 Lessons From David Brett-Williams On Failure

Mentor and renowned professional speaker “David Brett-Williams” is a beacon of inspiration. He travels the world training some of the top CEO’s and executives on how to become an effective leader.

David Brett-Williams’ quotes and lessons are floating all over social media channels and motivational videos.

Here are the Top 16 Inspirational Lessons Quotes and lessons by David Brett-Williams on failure.

1. Being afraid to learn from your mistakes, increases the likelihood you will keep repeating them.

 

Every one of us is capable of repeating the same mistakes over and over. The reason is that when we get stressed, we tend to retreat to habits formed in childhood.

And when the regulatory processes of our prefrontal cortex get overtaxed physically or mentally by stress, then habits rule. So we see child-like habits of impulsiveness, poor judgment, and self-obsession.

The advances in technology in our everyday life create overstimulation and information overload. This, in turn, causes us to repeat mistakes.

2. A measure of success is how we cope with the disappointment of failure.

A measure of success is how we cope with the disappointment of failure.

The reality is that those people who achieve great things have, at some point, chosen to embrace failure versus allowing it to hold them back.

How we respond to failure paves our way to success and allows us to excel.

In the grand perspective of our lives, failures are rarely fatal, and the vast majority are unimportant.

There will always be another company to buy, another great prospect to meet, another race to run.

The deciding factor is your attitude to the inevitable knocks. Because in every disaster, there is a precious element of experience.

3. Success tends to breeds complacency. Complacency tends to breed failure. Only the perpetually hungry survive.

Success tends to breeds complacency. Complacency tends to breed failure. Only the perpetually hungry survive.

Regrettably, the earliest hints of success makes many people satisfied. They lose the desire to put in the extra effort, the hard work that produced that success.

When the desire fades then the success will also fade. The way to ensure continued success is to set challenging goals and when you attain them set another goal rather than become complacent.

And that is precisely what being perpetually hungry does for you. You put in the hard work, the extra effort to reach your goals.

4. The humbling issue about failure is your acknowledgement that you’re not as good as you thought you were.

The humbling issue about failure is your acknowledgement that you’re not as good as you thought you were.

I am familiar with stupid mistakes. I might have written the book on screwing up. All right, not really, but sometimes it sure feels like that.

If the veneer of a well-designed website somehow misled you, I don’t have all my stuff figured out. Just wanted to set the record straight.

I disappoint the people I love, am often late for meetings and regret the really stupid stuff I say. The stupid stuff passes without regret.

I wish it weren’t this way, but despite my best efforts, it seems sometimes I can’t get it right.

This does not mean I am resigned to my mistakes. I know I can grow. This is just me being real and inviting you into the truth.

We all fall short, we all betray our consciences and let down those who matter most to us. And these things are not okay. But that is not the end of the story unless you want it to be.

Our struggles don’t define us. But they can help us grow. Accept that you are not as good as you thought you were and resolve to improve.

5. Get out there and make mistakes. Make new mistakes, ones that nobody has ever made before.

Get out there and make mistakes. Make new mistakes, ones that nobody has ever made before.

If you are out there making mistakes, then you are trying new things, making new things. You are learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, and changing your world.

You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you are active, and you are doing something.

Get out there and make new mistakes. Make great, glorious mistakes. Don’t stop, freeze, don’t worry that it might not be good enough, whatever it is: family or work or life.

Whatever it is that you are scared of doing, do it. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before.

6. You can let your failures teach you or define you.

You can let your failures teach you or define you.

No one who is a failure. The predicament is that when you say you are something, it begins to manifests itself.

It forms part of who you are, how you think and feel, and what you do. Failure is what happens to you, not who you are.

We will all fail at some point. We will fail in business, relationships, and sports. It’s how life was designed to be.

Importantly, it is up to you to define what failure means to you.

7. Success depends on preparation, without preparation there is a good chance of failure.

Success depends on preparation, without preparation there is a good chance of failure.

Success is all about preparation. Preparation is all about discipline, hard work, sacrifice, consistency, and more. This often quoted sports maxim comes to mind, “The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.”

Most of us have the will to win, but only very few are willing to put in the hard work and time necessary to become great. The greater challenge is that you can’t prepare to win once and then just let success flow.

Achievers possess the will to prepare to win over and over again.

If you are not prepared to meet a challenge, then you have little chance of succeeding.

8. Negative results are just as valuable to me as positive ones. Until I find the things that don’t do the job, I can never find the thing that does.

Negative results are just as valuable to me as positive ones. Until I find the things that don’t do the job, I can never find the thing that does.

While negative results are painful, they serve a valuable purpose. They show us what is not working so we can refine our approach to get the positive results that we desire.

Grit and perseverance are keys to achieving success in any endeavour. We will all face moments of doubt, and the achievers are the ones who somehow find the inner resolve to keep going.

Take the time to learn from the negative results and persevere in finding ways that do the job. That get the results that you want.

9. A moment of success repays years of failure.

A moment of success repays years of failure.

Success is about overcoming adversity and not about being ambitious. Being ambitious, that is easy. What separates the winners from the losers is how they handle disappointment.

In striving to achieve, you will suffer setbacks. Similar to thunder following lightning. If nothing is ventured, nothing is gained.

Know that no one triumphs every time, and the more attempts you make, the more failures you will suffer, as well as victories. And that one victory will make all the failures worth it.

10. There is no such thing as failure, only feedback and learning.

There is no such thing as failure, only feedback and learning.

Success is a great word. It means so much, and it’s a word that many find inspiring and motivating. And amazingly, it has different meanings to every person on this planet.

One thing we all have in common though, the word failure is something that we all fear. No one wants to fail. No one likes to fail. However, failure can lead to greater success.

It all comes down to what you learn from your failure and your perspective. Take responsibility for the result and evaluate it so you can take the feedback into your next endeavour.

11. Reframe failure as time-released success.

Reframe failure as time-released success.

We will all experience failure in our lives, whether we’ve lost a major client, been rejected from a top school, or filed for divorce. No one enjoys failure, but it’s impossible to avoid.

Failure is important, and I would argue an essential, step towards success. To use failure to our advantage, rather than letting it get in the way of achieving our goals, recognise that you failed and that it’s okay.

12. Failure is a bruise, not a scar.

Failure is a bruise, not a scar.

We fail. We make mistakes. A vital lesson we all need to learn is to know failure is a bruise and not a scar. We heal from the bruises and continue.

Failure can be foggy, and we can find clarity. Failure defines our character. Our true character is reflected in the immediate actions following any credibility challenge.

Failure can be character building. Failure occurs, but we decide what we want our legacy to be.

13. Everyone understands failure, after all, everybody does it all the time.

Everyone understands failure, after all, everybody does it all the time.

Sometimes the same lesson gets presented many times before we learn from it. Stop thinking of life as a checklist.

Life is a practice. Everything in life takes practice.

Things tend to decay if left ignored . Doing something once does not mean it will happen again. The fact that you were once great at something does not mean you will be great at it forever.

Some of life’s hardest and most challenging lessons repeat themselves over and over again. And the onus is on every one of us to be mindful enough to witness them happening in that moment. So that this time around, we can make a different decision.

14. It is our strategies that are to blame for our failures. After all, we are responsible for the good and the bad in our life.

It is our strategies that are to blame for our failures. After all, we are responsible for the good and the bad in our life.

There is a foundational principle that you must embrace if you plan for happiness and success in your life and work. The only way to achieve your dreams is to take responsibility for your life.

For many of us, it is always someone else’s fault. It is never down to us. Every problem gets explained away with reasons why they were unable to influence or affect the situation or the outcome.

You and you alone are responsible for your life.

Lurking beside every failure is a scapegoat that we can use to avoid taking responsibility for our actions. That scapegoat ensures failure is never the result of the choices we made.

Time to stop making excuses. Those excuses fuel dysfunctional thinking and as a direct consequence fuel undesirable actions and behaviours.

The hallmark of people who fail to succeed both in their personal and professional lives is making excuses instead of taking 100% responsibility for your actions, your thoughts, and your goals.

The next time you hear yourself making an excuse, catch yourself. Then gently remind yourself that there are no excuses.

15. To learn from mistakes, we must not hide them, especially not from ourselves.

 

Most of us know that forgiveness is a good thing. The act of forgiving frees us from anger and bitterness and anger. Two negative emotions that hold us back from all the outstanding things we might achieve and experience.

Pat on the back for all of your work on forgiving others. But what about forgiving ourselves?

Forgiving ourselves is often very difficult. To avoid that uncomfortable process we hide from our failures and in doing so remove the opportunity to learn from our mistakes.

Forgiving yourself allows you to make better decisions. All those self-justifications that you engage in warp reality. The more you use self-justifications, the more warped reality becomes.

This alternate universe you create leads to a decreased ability to make good choices, as the information you’re using to base your decisions on is distorted.

If you had been able to see the people and pursuits clearly for what they were, it would have helped you.

16. Because you failed this time doesn’t mean you’re going to fail every time.

 

There is freedom in learning how to use failure to your advantage.

We all fail. Let that sink in for a moment. All of us fail.

If you’re an achiever, forging a new path, then at some point you will fail. The reality is that it is inevitable.

But realise that whether that failure is small or large, there is something to be gained. Failure is not the end. It isn’t a total loss.

Let’ look at the numbers, 40% of all businesses will fail in the first three years they’re open. That’s a lot of failing going on.

So you get through the first three years, and then it is plain sailing. Not at all. The next risk period for a new business is between 3 to 5 years. That period shows a sharp decline in the number of companies operating.

Successful people fail. And yes, please read that again. It is not an oxymoron. Successful people fail.

Failure is an option, failure is always an option.

Failure is frequently, but mistakenly, viewed as an ending. However, that doesn’t have to be the case.

For those with resilience, failure is just the beginning. If you find yourself faced with failure, it’s time to shift gears and find a solution to the problem.

Maybe you need to start from scratch again. If so, that’s perfectly acceptable. One of my first business’ failed, but here I am, still standing and then some.

But why? I diligently examined the problems with my first business and ensured that what I learned from that experience influenced my future decisions.

  • 20 February, 2019
  • Personal Development, Professional Development
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When the Customer is Not Always Right

The phrase “The customer is always right” is credited to Harry Gordon Selfridge all the way back to 1909. Yes, that long ago.

You might know the Selfridge name. He was the American born retail magnate who founded the London-based department store Selfridges.

And it was during his 20-year leadership of Selfridges that led to his becoming known as the ‘Earl of Oxford Street’.

As rags to riches stories go, his reads well. He was born in Wisconsin, and young Harry Selfridge left school at 14 to work at a bank in Michigan.

After a series of jobs, Selfridge found a position at the department store Marshall Field’s in Chicago. He stayed with Marshall Field for the next 25 years.

It was in 1906 that Selfridge invested £400,000 in building his own department store in what was then the unfashionable western end of Oxford Street.

Chairman

It took three years to build, opening on 15 March 1909, and he remained chairman of Selfridges until he retired in 1941.

Apologies for straying, I love stories about people achieving the dreams through hard work and persistence. So back to “The customer is always right.”

For many years the expression has been used to convey a sense of real attention to customer’s needs. Like many proverbs, the idea is simple and easy to understand.

There’s no doubting the sentiment or reasoning behind it. Even better, it’s a short enough quote to make it memorable. But should it still be used as the measuring stick for excellent service?

A Weapon

What’s the benefit of handing a self-righteous customer with a poor attitude a weapon like this? One they could use against any customer service employee they think should experience their wrath.

When the Customer is Not Always Right

“It is so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and try to understand how you might help them before they ask for help, than it is to try to mend a broken customer relationship.” – Mark Cuban

When staff members are allowed to be undermined by a simple but irrefutable rule, it doesn’t create a pleasant working environment.

Think about it for a moment, a rewording of that rule is, “The customer service assistant is always wrong.”

UN Diplomats

Employees need to feel that their input to the sales process is valued. And that they play an essential part in the resolution of disagreements. It’s unlikely a UN diplomat would have their diplomatic powers reduced to a “customer is always right” straightjacket.

It is time businesses begin empowering their employees to take a more proactive role in complaint resolution. The alternative is a mere capitulation to the rants of unpleasant people with buyer’s remorse.

Here is a simple truth. Abusive customers, customers who refuse to read the terms and conditions, operating instructions, hazard warnings or other essential details of a product, are bad for business.

Bad For Business

They waste your company’s time demanding resolutions to problems they caused in the first place. They complain about products they haven’t taken the time to understand, or ignored your training about.

When the Customer is Not Always Right

“Customer service is just a day-in, day-out, ongoing, never-ending, unremitting, persevering, compassionate type of activity.” – Leon Gorman

All of this makes it financially non-viable to keep their custom.

And there is more to this than just financial repercussions. Consider your employees’ sense of wellbeing. How much do you value it? Depressed employees who feel devalued at every turn will not make good ambassadors of your brand.

A Mirror

As humans, we tend to mirror each other. A customer with a complaint is likely to perceive the attitude of a worn down, disgruntled employee as being directly attributed to their complaint.

As a direct result, they are likely to mirror that attitude, becoming more aggravated as the encounter goes on.

Then there is the fact that some customers are just wrong. Nothing else to it.

Southwest Airlines

Herb Kelleher writes in the excellent book “Nuts!: Southwest Airline’s Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success” about Southwest Airlines that they refuse to carry bad customers. They write to them and suggest they “Fly somebody else. Don’t abuse our people.”

When the Customer is Not Always Right article image 3

“Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Their needs and wants impact every aspect of your business, from product development to content marketing to sales to customer service.” – John Rampton

Sometimes, despite the best efforts of your company, you will find yourself in the position of having to deal with a difficult customer. And you want to keep your cool.

Firstly, difficult customers come in a range of personality types. They can be angry, intimidating, impatient, demanding, indecisive, and different degrees of each personality type.

Angry Customers

The basics of dealing with angry customers regardless of their personality type are:

  • Keep Calm
  • Tune In

Just like the popular poster says, “Keep calm and carry on serving.”

When the Customer is Not Always Right

“Business is all about the customer: what the customer wants and what they get. Generally, every customer wants a product or service that solves their problem, worth their money, and is delivered with amazing customer service.” – Fabrizio Moreira

Remaining calm ensures that the encounter does not escalate into a shouting match. When you react in a way that mirrors your customer, it can cause an escalation of their anger to try to shout you down.

By remaining calm, you remove their excuse for getting louder.

Sarcasm

There is one caveat with this. Don’t remain calm, but use a sarcastic tone of voice or continue to repeat the same canned response back to the customer.

Which brings us to the second point.

Tune in to what your customer is saying. Don’t jump to any conclusions about who is right or wrong in a confrontation. Listen to what makes this case unique.

By demonstrating that you are listening in a patient manner and asking questions to clarify the source of your customer’s displeasure, you will disarm them.

Disarm Them

If you can’t help the customer, explain why and offer to find someone who can. Always follow up on such an offer and make sure the issue is followed up on until the customer walks away knowing you have done everything that you could.

Often this will require you to make decisions that make sense. That means you need to adhere to the spirit of your company’s policy on the situation, but never the letter of the policy.

When the Customer is Not Always Right

“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” – Jeff Bezos

Policies are guidelines. If there is no policy in place, now’s a fantastic time to create one so that you can deal more effectively with customers who come to you or your colleagues with a similar problem in the future.

When trying to remain calm, it’s always a good idea to ask the customer what resulted in them coming to you and if they found you easily.

Source Of Anger

The source of your customer’s anger may have less to do with your product or service than you think. Frequently, it may have a lot to do with inconvenient parking, an argument with their boss, or a lengthy queue at your customer service desk.

Come on; we have all wasted 10 minutes of our lives on the phone trying to figure out which option to choose from the automated phone system.

Remember what it was like the last time you called for support only to find yourself at the end of a long queue of other callers before you even got to speak to someone about your problem. Did you get impatient?

And if you are unable to resolve their issue then take a page from Herb Kelleher’s book. “I am sorry that is all I can do to help you.”

Stay calm and remember the last time you had a complaint about a product or service and how you felt at the time. Let me know what you do when faced with difficult customers in the comments box.

  • 13 February, 2019
  • Professional Development
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How To Be An Outstanding Leader

When we think of a great leader, it’s easy to assume that they are born with some magical form of genius, or some other quality that they naturally possess.

It’s understandable why so many people rest on the assumption that good leaders are born that way. The thought gives us comfort.

It is more comforting to look at people like Steve Jobs or Barack Obama and kid ourselves that they’re magical and gifted with a power that we will never understand. That absolves us of the responsibility that comes from the belief that we could also be an equally great leader.

Learn To Be A Leader

So what does it take to be a leader? While it may be true that some people possess more natural ability towards leadership, everything about leadership can be learned.

Lead By Example

“It is essential that leaders lead by example. If you want your team to be  committed, dedicated, motivated, and passionate you must go first!” – David Brett-Williams

The reality is, no one is born with outstanding leadership skills. Think of leadership qualities as being like a muscle that needs to be strengthened. And we all have the potential to activate these skills, but many people make a choice not to.

Being a leader, like many things, is something you get better at it with practice.

One of the critical features of a leader is leading by example. Our society has gotten too used to the idea that leaders simply bark orders at people.

Follow Those Orders

They expect people to follow those orders without the willingness to do the tasks themselves.

Leaders need to be the captains of the ship and be willing to go down with the ship.

Another role of a leader is to take responsibility for your actions. Don’t pass the blame onto others.

If you assume or accept a leadership role, then you will be looked upon to guide those you lead. Own up to your mistakes and figure out alternative courses of action when needed.

A leader should also have a vision for their organisation. You should know what you are trying to accomplish and figure out how you are going to get there.

Captain Of The Ship

To continue with the captain of the ship analogy, you need to map out a route to take the ship.

When you are leading others, you need to display confidence. When people view you as a confident leader, they will do whatever you ask of them.

A Leader Knows The Way

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell

There is a difference between confidence and arrogance. Be careful not to confuse the two even though they sometimes can cross.

With leadership, you are allowed to make mistakes. It is how they recover from those mistakes that defines their ability to lead.

Face Up To It

If you hide from the problem, you will lose the confidence that others have placed in you. Face up to the adversity of the situation and figure out how to handle it.

This can require some tough decisions, but that is part of the role of the leader.

Leaders should listen to the people they are leading. If you take the approach that you are always right, you will set the stage for a group of yes people.

What this means is you will need to be responsible for every decision, even the ones that you thought you were delegating. Hire the right people and let them do their jobs.

Listen to their concerns. Listening to others does not imply caving into their demands. You merely need to take what others say into consideration.

That Small Voice

Reflect for a moment. You’ve taken time out of your day to read this because there’s something in you that knows you can be a better leader. And you want to learn how to become one.

Eye For Leadership

“I believe to be a leader is to enable others to embrace a vision, initiative or assignment in a way that they feel a sense of purpose, ownership, personal engagement, and common cause.” – Melanne Verveer

Credit goes to you, you are an achiever. Listen to that small voice inside your head encouraging you to dream a little bigger and hope a little higher. Give thanks for that voice, because it’s right.

Learning how to be a good leader is well within your reach. It’s merely a matter of learning what skills and qualities make an outstanding leader and how to apply them to your own life.

  • 6 February, 2019
  • Professional Development
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