Self-Improvement

If You Are Worried or Anxious, Shift Your Focus

If You Are Worried or Anxious, Shift Your Focusby Chris Banescu –

In times of uncertainty, in times of trials and tribulations, and in times of worldwide crisis—like the current one caused by the coronavius pandemic which spread from communist China—we become worried and fearful. The uncertainty and danger cause us to be anxious and stressed, or more anxious and stressed than normal.

For many of us, prayer, meditation, attending religious services, and fellowship with friends and family can help reduce the worry and anxiety we feel. But what if prayer and meditation are not enough? What if their effects are only temporary? What if, as we experience presently, churches and other houses of worship are closed by government fiat and we’re unable to worship and have fellowship with our brethren? What else can we do? [Read more…]

Get Busy Living!

Get busy living, or get busy dyingby Chris Banescu –
Life is hard, for everyone. It’s a constant battle to stay grounded and deal with adversity. To endure and thrive, we must continually sharpen our souls and minds, strengthen our tenacity, discern truth, avoid dangers, and solve problems. We must fight to stay healthy, balanced, and sane.

Seeking the company and counsel of good and decent men and women helps us on our journey. Experience and wisdom allow us to discern the truth and live in reality. Courage gives us the determination to accept the truth and take action.

Learning continually allows us to adapt and change. Reading good books gives us the knowledge to know what to do. Discipline allows us to consistently, creatively, and rationally deal with problems, find pragmatic solutions, and move toward meaningful goals. [Read more…]

Pain of Discipline vs Pain of Disappointment

Pain of Discipline vs Pain of Disappointmentby Chris Banescu –
“There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you’ll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment.” ~ Nick Saban

We all pay a price for the lack of discipline. Whether it’s our physical or mental health, spiritual well-being, character, family life, career situation, financial status, friendships, or business condition, we always suffer if we don’t do the essential work to either improve, adapt, or deal with the changing circumstances of our life. The longer we avoid consistently doing the right things for ourselves, our families, and/or businesses, the worse things will get. We will feel the inevitable physical and psychological pains that arise when we let things slide and refuse to do the daily necessary work. [Read more…]

Focus on Your Strengths, Improve First-Rate Performance to Excellence

Focus on Your Strengths, Improve First-Rate Performance to Excellence“We all have a vast number of areas in which we have no talent or skill and little change of becoming even mediocre. In those areas a person –and especially a knowledge worker– should not take on work, jobs, and assignments.

One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.

And yet most people –especially most teachers and most organizations– concentrate on making incompetent performers into mediocre ones. Energy, resources, and time should go instead into making a competent person into a star performer.” ~ Peter F. Drucker

The Compass vs. The Clock, Put First Things First

by Chris Banescu –
The realization that something is not right with our lives can manifest itself in various ways. A feeling of emptiness, a bothersome disquiet, or a strange pain, like a deep sadness or a heartache, gradually or suddenly begins to trouble our souls. We feel guilty, anxious, unsatisfied, stressed, or sad even in moments when we ought to be at peace and carefree; when we should be relaxing or enjoying ourselves. For some this pain is only a vague discomfort. For others, including yours truly, the pain can often be intense and unrelenting; sometimes lasting for long stretches of time.

I discovered the reason for this mysterious affliction in the book First Things First, written by Stephen Covey, Roger Merrill, and Rebecca Merrill. They describe this particular grief as the “pain of the gap,” the gap we sense between the compass and the clock in our lives. Every time we don’t put first things first, when we fail to follow our calling and vocation and focus on the most important things in life, our conscience warns us that something’s not right and corrective measures and proactive actions are required. [Read more…]

Seeing Yourself as Others See You Key to Being a Great Leader

Seeing Yourself as Others See Youby Linda Hill & Kent Lineback –
Becoming a great boss required courage — in particular, the courage to find out how others see you. Almost certainly, others’ perceptions of you will differ in important and perhaps disconcerting ways from your self-perceptions.
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This is an important topic. It’s not about being liked or popular, as some assumed in reading our previous blog. It’s about your ability to exert influence, which is your major task as a manager. If you don’t know how your words and actions are perceived and understood, if you don’t know if others trust you (and if they don’t, why not), if you don’t know what others want and expect from you, how can you exert the influence you want?

The problem is, how do you find out? … Simply asking is unlikely to produce a true or complete answer. As the boss, you will often have trouble finding out the truth about anything, especially when it’s negative or problematic. Even if you’re trusted, people are still aware you hold the keys to promotions, pay, and choice assignments. And if you’re not trusted, why would anyone tell you the truth?

Though there are no simple solutions, we can offer some guidelines: [Read more…]