The past few days I’ve been thinking a lot about Carol Dweck’s quote, “no matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.” It’s a consistent reminder that my actions will dictate my future, but I must stay focused and have to keep my mind working at optimum levels. I’ve also had some solid conversations with a few startups and coaching clients that got me thinking in the direction of growth and being more emotionally centered.
These talks I had centered around leadership, specifically about what must be done to succeed as great leaders. Sometimes we see or hear about leaders that are angry, demeaning, and overall egocentric and I believe that good leadership is the complete opposite of that. True great leaders lead with kindness, by example, and through inclusion by empowering those around them. Hopefully, I can guide you in becoming a better leader with the contents of this Newsletter. Thank you for reading #ABrilliantTribe.
What I’m Listening To: Jim Collins: Keeping the Flywheel in Motion by Farnam Street. For those of you who haven’t read any Jim Collins books I suggest you start with From Good To Great, and then read, Built To Last. I took so many notes on this one and I hit rewind a few times as well. It’s about 2.5 hours!!!! It’s packed with incredible insights and detailed examples that are immediately useful. Jim generously describes the inner workings of companies that are outstanding, how they got there, and what they can do to ensure longevity. He also discusses luck, leadership, and what it takes to get your own flywheel started. Listen to this one in the car, on the go, while chillin’ or whenever you can!
Article I’m Reading: How to Overcome Your Brain’s Fixation on Bad Things by Jill Suttie – January 13, 2020. In lasts week’s Newsletter, I wrote about Confirmation Bias and how we often look at things the way we want to look at things instead of with an objective eye. This article builds on that and talks about “Negativity Bias“, where we naturally gravitate towards things that go wrong instead of focusing on things that go right. There are times that a small negative event can even take over our minds and ruin a whole day. It can even ruin our relationships, or work environment, our health, and our overall happiness. This is a great article to read this week!
Book I’m Reading: The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer – September 25, 2004. This is the 3rd time I’m reading this book. I love the simplicity of the book. You can open up the book to almost any page and that page will have some great information that will inspire you to do better in business. This book isn’t going to supply you with a revelation of amazing new techniques to help your business massively grow, but what you do find is common sense. It’s a very small and short book and worth the read to get re-inspired!
What I’m Watching: How-To Guide on Mindfulness Meditation from a Stanford Neurosurgeon by James Doty. This is one of the shortest and greatest videos that I’ve seen in the last 2 months, it explains how to be more mindful of ourselves and of those around us. One of the greatest challenges is that many of us have a negative internal dialogue and we don’t often have control over that. Great simple steps to overcome some real challenges in our minds. Watch this a few times today, not just one time!
What I Just Bought: Hamelin 1 Subject 8.5″x11″ 150 Pages Sunshine Yellow
I’ve always believed note-taking matters a lot. The challenge I found when taking notes, was going back to them later on when I needed to refer back to a specific note. This notebook is unique in that the pages have tags that enable you to use the app that Hamelin makes. You can easily save the notes, sort them or organize them by subject, and email and share them. I still love uploading to Evernote and having my Virtual Assistant organize the notes, so this only enhances that process. When you meet with clients or you’re taking notes for work/meetings you can easily store and share anytime.
What I’m Working On: My Kid’s Affirmations (Email Me For Sheet)
I’m working on re-doing my kid’s affirmations. Ever since my daughter was about 4 years old we’ve been doing affirmations. I believe that positive self-talk goes a long way in maintaining a healthy existence. Very similar to the video I refer to above by Dr. James Doty. Every year I take time to sit down with my two kids and go over their affirmations and I change it as they grow. I use affirmations to help them with things they want to improve on or things they are having challenges with. If you want to take a peek at how they look please email me and I will gladly share them with you.
That’s it for this week. Go Be Brilliant and please share what you learned from this newsletter on Social Media and stay focused on the following:
I also want to thank one of our readers, Jessica Brogan, who gave me some great suggestions last week on changing the format slightly.
