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Act Small, Achieve Big
Posted on September 4th, 2011 4 commentsAct Small, Achieve Big! What?
Act Small, Achieve Big: How to Improve Your Life and Reach Your Goals One Step at a Time
Just ask anyone what they want to change about their lives and you are likely to receive a laundry list of responses. Whether it’s losing weight, eating healthier, exercising more, getting out of debt, becoming more organized or some other goal, most people have something about themselves that they want to change. Yet day after day, year after year, most people are making the same mistakes and repeating the same patterns.
Why are so many people stuck in a rut? Why, despite repeated attempts, do old habits refuse to die? Why can’t people change?
Some would say that the failure to change is because most people lack the necessary will power. Others would argue that the failure to change comes from not trying hard enough.
Robert Maurer, the author of One Small Step Can Change Your Life disagrees. According to Maurer, the failure to achieve lasting change isn’t the result of not trying hard enough; it’s the result of trying too hard.
Welcome to the world of Kaizen. Though it may sound complicated, Kaizen is all about simplicity. Simply put, Kaizen is a Japanese principle based on the notion that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. The idea is that people don’t achieve success through drastic changes in behavior. Instead, by improving just a little each day, people can reach their goals and have lasting success.
For most people, the desire for self-improvement often spurs a resolve to make big changes and to take drastic measures. For example, a person looking to lose weight may decide to eliminate all treats from their diet. They sacrifice for weeks only to cave in and binge. They try so hard only to fail so large. Eventually, they become discouraged and quit.
Unfortunately, for many people, sudden and drastic changes in behavior can become overwhelming. Having bitten off more than they can chew, most people find their resolve fading after a few weeks of sacrifice. They quickly find themselves reverting back to old habits.
The problem is that, in trying to make drastic changes, people often see the challenge as too big. The sense that the goal is impossible makes them give up too soon.
Consider, however, what might happen if instead of big changes, these same people acted small. For the person looking to lose weight, that might mean making one change to one meal and sticking to that. Then, after achieving that goal for thirty days, the person can incorporate additional changes. Over time the small changes will add up to big success.
That’s it. That’s Kaizen. It’s simple and it’s easy.
As Normam Lear said, “Life is made of small pleasures and happiness is made by the tiny successes.” Kaizen is about taking small steps to achieve big goals. It’s about thinking small and acting small but achieving big.
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Four Motivations That Drive You
Posted on July 31st, 2011 3 commentsFour Motivations That Drive You
Four basic drives are common to all human beings, but which ones affect your daily life and behavior? How do they influence the choices you make?
At the start of the 20th century, psychoanalysis pioneer Sigmund Freud proposed that people are driven by sex and power—but there’s much more to it than that. By the 1950s, psychologist Abraham Maslow identified our “hierarchy” of basic needs, which include shelter, food, clothing, ego and belonging. After these needs were met, he said, we’re driven toward self-actualization—a state very few achieve.
In the 1960s, MIT management professor Douglas McGregor applied Maslow’s ideas to the business world. He asserted that once basic salary needs were met, workers had higher drives that weren’t contingent on rewards or punishments. If managers could tap into people’s inner motivations by granting more autonomy and respect, they would spur greater performance.
Harvard psychology professor David McClelland later identified three motivators in leaders: drives to achieve, attain power and affiliate with others.
Despite all of these studies, businesses continue to use monetary incentives instead of tapping into employees’ intrinsic motivations. Perhaps one can chalk this up to fuzzy, anachronistic notions about what motivates people.
A new theory suggests each of us has four basic drives that have existed since our cavemen days. These drives, which have allowed us to survive, are embedded in our DNA and actively chart the course for our daily behaviors.
Acquiring, Bonding, Learning and Defending
In Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices (Jossey Bass, 2001), Harvard Business School professors Paul R. Lawrence and Nitin Nohria draw evidence for their four-drive theory from evolutionary psychology and Charles Darwin’s teachings, as well as the social sciences and organizational life.
Human beings seek ways to fulfill the following drives because our evolutionary heritage compels us to meet basic survival needs:
- The drive to acquire objects and experiences that improve our status relative to others. We’re driven to seek, take, control, and retain objects and personal experiences. In the course of evolution, humans have been naturally selected to compete for food, water, shelter and sexual fulfillment.
We’re driven to acquire both material and positional goods, as well as social status. But the drive to acquire is rarely satisfied; we always seem to want more and seek even greater status.
- The drive to bond with others in long-term relationships of mutual care and commitment. Human beings have an innate drive to form social relationships and develop commitments with others—drives that are fulfilled only when the attachment is mutual.
Groups of individuals who bond to one another have always had a better chance of surviving environmental threats. This drive induces us to cooperate with others.
- The drive to learn and make sense of the world and of ourselves. Humans have an innate drive to satisfy their curiosity—to know, comprehend, believe, appreciate, and develop understandings or representations of their environment and themselves through a reflective process.
This drive, without doubt, has enabled mankind to survive the elements and has given us distinct advantages over other creatures.
- The drive to defend ourselves, our loved ones, our beliefs and our resources. Humans have an innate drive to defend themselves and their valued accomplishments whenever they perceive them to be endangered. The fundamental emotion manifested by this subconscious drive is alarm, which in turn triggers fear and/or anger. This drive has obvious survival value and quite possibly may have been the first drive to have evolved in our earliest ancestors.
In modern life, the drive to defend manifests in many ways. Much of human activity is generated by this drive. It is activated by perceived threats to one’s body, possessions and bonded relationships, as well as by threats to one’s own cognitive representations of our environment and self-identity.
The Balancing Act
The four drives are intrinsic and universal, found in some physical form in our brains. While independent, the drives are highly interactive with each other.
Each drive also has a “dark side,” as when the drive to acquire becomes excessively competitive and diminishes respect for others, or when the drive to defend one’s current thinking diminishes the drive to learn new perspectives.
These four drives exist in each of us; no one is immune. They determine the choices we make.
In some people, one drive will be more developed than others, creating an imbalance. And in some jobs, specific drives will be emphasized over others.
Using Drive to Your Advantage
Understanding how each of these drives manifests in your life can help you understand how and why you make particular choices. Working with a professional coach can help you identify your strongest drives so you can understand yourself better.
You may be relying too much on your drive to acquire or be placing too much emphasis on the drive to bond, while neglecting your drive to learn. Often, the drive to defend can overwhelm other important drives that must be satisfied to achieve and enjoy a well-balanced and successful life.
Which drives are guiding your choices—and which drive do you neglect?
The answers to these questions lie in acknowledging that all four drives are basic to human nature—and that a balanced life must include some satisfaction in all four areas.
As Lawrence and Nohria write: “The challenge is to find a course forward that fulfils all of our basic drives in some creative, balanced way…The way forward must be to use the best side of each drive to check the dark, excessive potential of human nature.”
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√ Would you create the life you always wanted?
√ Would you like to be significant,
successful & satisfied?
√ Are you contributing to others?
√ When will you start growing in your personal development?
Get my book on kindle —> Never Ending You!
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Life Purpose Quiz
Posted on June 23rd, 2011 2 commentsFinding True Meaning – The Quiz
Article June 2011When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it. ~ W. Clement Stone
Does your life have a clear sense of purpose?
Most people have a fundamental need to seek and find their calling in life, be it through work, hobbies or volunteer activities. While philosophers have long weighed in on the subject, it has recently come under scrutiny by researchers who seek to understand the science behind human happiness and success.
Psychologist Michael Steger and his colleagues at Colorado State University created the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) to measure the presence of meaning in our lives, as well as how much we seek to further our understanding of life’s purpose.
This five-minute test will prompt you to think about these important topics, and it can serve as the foundation for discussions with your significant relationships, mentor or coach.
The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ)
Take a moment to think about what makes your life and existence feel important.
Using the following scale, respond to the 10 statements on the questionnaire as truthfully and accurately as possible. Keep in mind that each statement is subjective, so there are no right or wrong ratings.
Untrue True
1. Absolutely untrue 4. Can’t say if true or false 5. Somewhat true
2. Mostly untrue 6. Mostly true
3. Somewhat untrue 7. Absolutely trueStatements
1. _____I understand my life’s meaning.
2. _____I am looking for something that makes my life feel meaningful.
3. _____I am always looking to find my life’s purpose.
4. _____My life has a clear sense of purpose.
5. _____I have a good sense of what makes my life meaningful.
6. _____I have discovered a satisfying life purpose.
7. _____I am always searching for something that makes my life feel significant.
8. _____I am seeing a purpose or mission for my life.
9. _____My life has no clear purpose.
10. _____I am searching for meaning in my life.Scoring
You can create two subscales from this measure: one for the “Presence” of meaning and the other for the “Search” for meaning.
Presence: Statements 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9 (reverse-coded)
Search: 2, 3, 7, 8 and 10Note: There is no manual for interpreting this questionnaire. To understand it better, please contact Dr. Steger through his website: http://michaelfsteger.com/MLQ.aspx. The quiz is reproduced here solely to stimulate your thinking and facilitate a conversation with your coach or mentor.
There are no definitive methods for discovering what really matters to you, but passion and purpose go hand in hand. When you discover your purpose, you will normally find that it’s something about which you are tremendously passionate. You will be energetic and experience positive emotions.
In reviewing your life, you’ll find that you have already invested considerable time and effort in pursuit of what really matters to you. Responsibilities to others, however, often sidetrack and distract us from focusing on our core purpose, which may evolve over time. Look for recurrent themes and core interests.
The Daily Search… or the Daily Grind
Many people organize their lives to such an extent that they begin to feel like robots after a while. While routines help us conserve energy, they also lead to boredom and disengagement.
As you complete your daily activities, ask yourself these important questions:
1. What is this task’s purpose?
2. How can I bring more meaning to this activity?
3. How will this task bring me closer to my passion(s)?
4. How can I find a way to express my true values?Finding Meaning at Work
As humans, we require a sense of belonging in the world—a place to make a contribution. For most, this comes through work, which is as much about spirit and passion as it is about salary.
Renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow defined the human “hierarchy of needs” on four main levels:
1. Security
2. Relationships
3. Self-esteem
4. Self-actualizationAs our basic security needs for food, clothing and shelter are met, we are free to focus on fulfilling other needs. Depending on your personality and drive, you have opportunities to discover what motivates you and create your own sense of purpose on the job.
Meaning, purpose and passion are often hidden in the little tasks and events that make up each day. It’s up to us to pay attention, find our focus and spend our time on what matters most.
Here Is What I Have For You:
Personal Coaching and Mentoring with the Warrior of Success Group.Discover how you can become a part of this powerful community of success-minded individuals and future superstars as you start creating your own success!
“Join us and begin achieving your desires, overcoming your fears,
and creating positive, meaningful changes in your life,
faster, and with less effort than you dreamed possible!”“Our Mission is to encourage, inspire and educate people to live a life of Success, Achievement and Joy through Purpose, Power and Passion.”
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Send me an email if you want to work one on one! lynn@warriorofsuccess.com
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New Year Goals..Business!
Posted on January 3rd, 2011 No commentsHappy New Year 2012!
One of the top 10 goals people set for 2012 is to learn something new and to get a better job.
A better job? I remember years ago a man told me that J.O.B. stands for Just Over Broke. When you work for the other person your boss has the control. The control over your time, money, your raises, your vacation and your livelihood is all controlled by your boss!
The economy is really in a bad way and unemployment isn’t any better. If history tells us much at all it is telling us to prepare for tough days ahead. I believe in having a backup plan that will help you in those tough times and help you be your own boss one day!
One of the best ways I know to get prepared and to get the control over your livelihood is to start a small business. Some people think that starting a small business is such a monumental task that they talk themselves right out of making the effort.
I have been in my own business in some form since I was about 5 years old. I remember my first lesson as an entrepreneur at age 5 likes it was yesterday. My Mom and I were on our way home from my Grandmother’s house when we stopped at a roadside vegetable stand. I noticed all the people that were there to give the guy running this stand all their money in exchange for a few tomatoes and some melons.
I had an Idea!
When we got home I went to our garage and started looking around for a table to set next to the road just in front of our house. I got the table and moved it to the road and ran back in the house and got most of the veggies my Mom just purchased from the veggie stand we stopped at earlier. That is called …low overhead!
I was in the middle of my first sale when…….my Mom shows up and shuts me down. She was not very happy to see that I was selling the veggies and she was really upset when she heard the price I was selling them for. Seems I was selling for less than she had purchased them for.
Lessons.
- Never overlook you COGS…cost of goods and services!
- Have good margins so you don’t lose money!
- Cut your Mom in on the deal if she backs you!
That was a true story. Seriously…..your own business has many benefits that can serve you over time.
You can get started today in the next 30 minutes with a small internet business that you can run from your easy chair. It…is…not…that hard!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article one other top 10 goal of 2012 is to get educated or to learn something new. That is a great goal too. I push myself to learn one new thing daily. When you start your own business you will start to learn new things and even get excited about the process and progress you make.
Here is the great thing!
You don’t need to quit your job to start your business. Start small and let it grow as you grow in your knowledge of making it happen. As I write this I have many irons in the fire.
I can show you how to build your own small internet business that will help you generate some income on the side while it grows. Will it make 6 figures in the next year? I doubt it…but the possibility is there.
Your Journey.
We are all on a journey. You may work at the same job..live in the same home for 20 years without change. But…change will come if you create it or not. Why not begin today to prepare and create change in your life? Enjoy the journey.
Think about the things you are good at and love to just get lost in… then begin to look at ways you can make money with that activity.
Make this a great year to discover who you are and where you want to go! Enjoy your journey!
If you have an idea or would like to have some input on starting your new business venture contact me. No strings attached.
R. Lynn Lane
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Enjoy The Journey
Posted on December 12th, 2010 No comments” We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the paths of life.”
Carl Jung
As we take our journey through life we will at times encounter many obstacles and opportunities.
We will learn to stretch our minds and our emotions to overcome and to push forward.
We will learn to incorporate our strength, discipline, and humility.
The journey is a short one, it seems as if it is only a flicker in time.
1. Accept yesterday
2. Embrace today
3. Enjoy the journey
Twelve Steps on the Pathway to Greatness
© 1996-2008 All Right Reserved
Table Of Contents
1. Give Thanks For Every New Day. It’s Yours To Live
2. Forgive Yourself And Others
3. Live Moment By Moment
4. Know What You Want And Take Action
5. Have Faith And Belief In Yourself And Your Dreams
6. Stay Away From Negative People. Learn From Your Heroes
7. Be A Go Giver Not Just A Go Getter
8. Learn From Your Mistakes And Change Your Approach
9. Build Relationships – Human And Spiritual
10. Remain Humble With Inner Pride
11. Be Hungry To Learn Every Day!
12. Light The Pathway For Others To Follow
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The Great Lie! Your Own Business!
Posted on November 10th, 2010 No commentsThe Great Lie! Your Own Business!
Hello and welcome. I was motivated to write this article and hope it will help you see where we are today and what the future is heading towards in our current economical situation. First let me say, I am not an economics expert and any information I share is my opinion and you should do your own research for yourself!
Americans and the World are being mislead and are kept in the dark about critical information that our leaders should be sharing. One huge lie or misconception is that we are free from the recession. Some of our leaders and the biased media have been trying to sell us on this for months now. For example, according to some the recession was over in June 2009. But just look around, thousands of families are still looking for work and many are without homes.
The government and our leaders are showing us one hand while keeping the other hidden behind their backs. They don’t want us to see the real deal. One other sad thought is that we have some people that don’t care and some who invite this type of a meltdown of the American economic landscape. The Fed will continue to print money and the value of the dollar will continue to go down if we stay on this path.
What does that mean to you and me? When the dollar is devalued it will take more dollars to buy gas, groceries, clothes and all the things we need and use daily. The dollar is going down and the Fed continues to drive it lower as they print more and more money.
One day the crap will hit the fan and you and I will have to pay the price if things don’t change.
So…what can we do?
1. Invest in Gold or Silver.
Don’t go into debt to buy gold or silver, invest with a small amount of cash that you can invest and let it grow. Could it go down? It could but it doesn’t look like it for a long while. I remember when gold was a few hundred dollars an oz. now it’s heading into the thousands and climbing. I purchased silver a year ago at $19.00 an oz. and purchased some more yesterday and paid $30.78 pretty good growth in one year. Plus when the dollar is worthless you’ll have some currency that you can use. Just an idea.
2. Start your own business.
Find a business that you will enjoy and start doing it today. It will be tough at times but if you do what you enjoy you will tend to stay with it. I have been working for myself since I was about 5 years old. Even though the value of the dollar is way down there is still plenty of them to go around. You could work for gold or silver.
It will be the small business that saves this economy not the government.3. Learn about money and how the government works.
Here is one of the most misleading lies that government has spread to many in the American culture. The American Government Will Take Care Of You! That is a load of crap. The government cannot create jobs without creating more taxes. When a business is taxed more the cost of goods and services go up to cover the extra taxes and with a weakened dollar the price is even more substantial.
4. Take control.
Now is the time to take control of your life and your future. Take a moment to think about the future of America and your kids and grandchildren. Do I think we will have a complete meltdown? We are headed that way, but I’m sure that after the awakening of the 2010 midterm elections we may slowly start to pull our way out. America may never be as it was only a few years ago. With time and great leadership we could become better!
Stay vigilant and stay prepared!
R. Lynn Lane
Lane Resources Inc. (c) 2010 www.warriorofsuccess.com
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