Fresh Voices: Two Posts that Can Improve Your Day and Your Life
Filed under: Career, Fresh Voices, Life and Business, Marketing, Marketing Yourself, Performance, Professional Growth, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Still reeling from my losing battle with the apologetic sales rep from Big Telco, I went searching for solace and inspiration from the many great writers that I follow. Two posts from two professionals in very different fields stood out as particularly thought provoking and inspiring.
Grab Control of the Negative Beliefs and Perceptions that Are Holding You Back!
The first, “How to Do (Almost) Anything and Feel Good Doing It,” is from Mary Jaksch of the Goodlife Zen blog. I featured one of Mary’s posts in an earlier Fresh Voices column a few weeks back, and I’ve made it a priority to keep current with her work.
As you might gather from the titles of the post and blog, Mary offers up inspirational and thoughtful content intended to motivate and encourage. In a world filled with an over-abundance of bad news and seemingly unconquerable challenges, we can all use a good dose of what Mary has to offer.
This “How to” post offers up some outstanding and thought-provoking ideas on grabbing control of our negative beliefs and preconceptions to start focusing on thinking and doing the right things. Mary offers a nice roadmap and some great advice for dealing with our demons, establishing goals and moving one step at a time towards those goals.
While you might be rolling your eyes, thinking, “I’ve heard this all before,” I know more than a few people that are struggling in their personal and professional lives that will benefit from having Mary as a guide.
The Self-Development Power of Blogging:
The second post is entitled “9 Hidden Benefits of Blogging” and comes from someone that I hold in high regard, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing fame. John is the author of the great book, Duct Tape Marketing and he runs a successful business, website and coaching network that share that same name.
Note from Art: if you are in business, the book is a must-read and his website is chock full of remarkable resources and suggestions.
While one might think that the topic of blogging is old news, I still find that a good number of friends and family and way too many professionals that I encounter (all non-bloggers) either don’t understand the medium or don’t see the value of participating. Sadly, many of these individuals have some great insights to offer and the world would be well served by hearing from them. Many have lumped blogging into that uncomfortable category of something that people do in pursuit of over-night riches and instant internet fame. Those perceptions are very wrong.
John eloquently and convincingly highlights the professional and personal benefits that have accrued to him from a sustained approach to writing about marketing and business. This has turned out to be a powerful self-development tool for John as it has for me and can be for you.
John’s “9 Benefits” very effectively make the case that there is a great deal to be gained from challenging yourself to think big, write diligently and convincingly and sustain the effort over a period of time, whether you are doing it for an audience of 1 or 1 million.
–
Thanks to Mary and John for the great, thought-provoking and motivating posts!
Fresh Voices: Perspectives on Change, Communication and Delegation
Filed under: Career, Current Affairs, Fresh Voices, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Leading Change, Management Education, Professional Growth, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
One of my favorite outcomes of blogging has been the opportunity to meet and learn from some really sharp people that share a passion for many of the same topics that I write about: leadership excellence, high performance and personal and professional development.
One particular blogger regularly points out that there are millions of blogs out there and most of them bad. I’m not quite as judgmental. I prefer to treat the blogosphere like I do a bookstore. There are many, many books that I have no interest in ever reading, but I know that somewhere on the shelves are a few works that will move and transform me.
Consistent with my desire to hunt for great new books, I’ve been seeking out new (to me) writers on topics that are relevant to anyone engaged in working with and leading others or focused on developing themselves. I plan on sharing these posts and authors with you from time to time, just like I would a great new book or a newly discovered writer. Oh, and don’t be surprised when some of the writers focus on topics outside of what you might find on the business bookshelf. Most of the best content for aspiring leaders is found elsewhere.
I’ll stop short of indicating that this will be a regular feature, because I’m wholly uninterested in maintaining a regular cycle on my blog, other than my Leadership Caffeine for the New Week posts on Mondays. I write about whatever strikes me as interesting at a point in time. Nonetheless, you can expect me to consistently feature some of the great new (to me) writers that have something important to say to us.
Enjoy, and remember to drop these bloggers a note or leave a comment if they say something that resonates. After all, the power of this medium is its ability to promote the exchange of ideas.
Enjoy this week’s features!
–
The Top 10 Ways to Establish Change Without Discipline is from Mary Jaksch, author and proprietor of the site: Goodlife Zen. I discovered Mary’s thoughtful and motivational work through Twitter and am now a subscriber and regular reader.
There are many, many articles on change, which is of course a staple of the leadership, HR and Organizational Development set. This is a fresh perspective, with a theme focusing on using positive rituals to reinforce change in ourselves, instead of relying on our old standbys, will and discipline.
Research suggests that we may have a much more limited store of will and discipline than we would like to believe, and a better way to promote change in ourselves is to create positive rituals which become self-reinforcing.
Mary offers 10 suggestions for changing or establishing habits using positive rituals, and along the way, does a nice job of integrating ideas from her own teachings as well as the work of mainstream business nad change experts. The entire post is great, but the Top 10 tips are golden for anyone interested in making some very positive changes in their habits and routines.
–
Gwyn Teatro writes a bit closer to my focus on Leadership in her wonderful blog, “You’re Not the Boss of Me.” Finding Gwyn and her blog is a lot like uncovering a great new author and series of books just when you had concluded that you knew everything out there. Her voice is fresh and her guidance excellent.
I originally intended on featuring her post, “Lack of Communication You Say,” a great piece about how we needlessly complicate the communication process in the workplace , when I was confronted with her most recent post: “Taking Charge, When Not to Delegate.” So why choose? Both are well worth your time.
In “Lack of Communication, You Say,” Gwyn reminds us of how easy it is to muck up the communication process with poor listening habits, our propensity to make assumptions and our over-reliance on confusing business jargon. Her suggestions and examples for eliminating the bad communication habits that bedevil us in the workplace and in life are great.
“Taking Charge, When Not to Delegate” offers some great examples and suggestions on a topic critical to leaders during tough times. So many leaders falsely assume that they can delegate away their responsibility for the tough tasks, when the reality is that just the opposite behavior is required. Gwyn offers four situations where leaders must “stand up and be counted.”
–
Thanks to both Mary and Gwyn for sharing your thoughts and professional guidance with us.
My Book
The desktop reference to leadership success whether you are starting out or starting over.
Art Petty
Welcome to Management Excellence where the focus is on building better leaders and creating high performance organizations.Building Better Leaders
Art Petty's Building Better Leaders programs in Leadership, Management and Developing as a Senior Contributor offer powerful and practical guidance for motivated professionals.
All programs available on-site in group format and select programs available in a distance learning PLUS personalized mentoring format.
Visit Building Better Leaders to find a program to help you or your team move forward. And don't forget to subscribe to the Building Better Leaders Leadership Tip of the Day.
Management Excellence Tools
Download the Management Excellence Guide to Effective Trade Show Marketing. What's Your Strategy & Execution (STREX) Quotient? Download and use the survey to help you gauge your organization's Strategy & Execution effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.e-book-Leadership and the Project Manager - Developing the Skills that Fuel High Performance Download the pdf or go to the e-book pages on this site and contribute to the conversation
Blog Subscriptions
Connect With Me On
E-Newsletter Mailing List
Join my e-newsletter mailing list and receive the latest in best-practices content for leadership, sales & marketing and strategy.