Copy: Copy Positive Traits
June 19, 2018 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
We are all works in progress. Learn by other’s mistakes and experiences and copy some of the traits, behaviors, and attitudes of those who are successful in an area that interests you. Take notice of what worked for them and adapt it to your own lifestyle and throw out what doesn’t work for you. Listen to their lessons to save yourself undue energy drainage doing something the wrong way. Seek those who do it right and follow their example. Learn how they got where and what they are today and why they do the things they do. Follow the lead of others who have paved the way for us, and then branch out on your own and blaze the way for others to follow your lead.
Find somebody who is willing to give you a leg up on life and ask for their guidance and assistance. By taking a shortcut on the learning curve, you free up your energies by not spinning your wheels to learn something the long way. Who do you know that you could take to lunch and learn about their business or their style? Stephen Covey’s bestselling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is just one shortcut to learning about such traits to copy. In it he shares the seven traits that are worth copying in your own life.
Copy the traits of those who have lived much longer than you. One of the factors worth copying is to take yourself more lightly. Lighten up and lighten your emotional load for increased energy and enjoyment. The New England Centenarian Study followed over 150 people age 100 or more and found every person tested low for levels of neuroticism or sadness. These feelings can disturb heart-beats, reduce immune functioning, and accelerate the aging process. Having the ability to easily shed emotional stress, remain calm and collected during crises, take charge, and easily adapt to changes in their environment and life situations were key ingredients to their longevity.
Letting go of issues and situations that are out of your control, in the past, or can’t be changed, allows your energy to be put towards a more positive use. Dwelling on things out of your hands pulls you down into the depths. Stewing over past circumstances, or decisions you have already made keep you grounded in the past and keep your energy grounded as well. Lightening up your outlook and letting go of your heavy loads will set your energy free. Copy this valuable trait of those who have lived to tell about it and you may well live a long life too.
“ ”: Heed the Words and Wisdom of Quotable Role Models
April 19, 2018 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Seek inspiring words from great speakers, mentors, trainers, celebrities, sports figures, business gurus, books, or other role models that you admire. Glean wisdom from them on how they acquired their spark, their position, their wealth, their notoriety, or their circumstance. Be a student of life and constantly be aware of the process of continuous improvement.
We are also role models for all those around us – we are part of their environment, so watch your words and actions which affect the energy of others. Who do you admire? What can you learn from them and how can you learn more? What things do you want in your life and who already has those things or is doing the things that you want to do? Find out how they did it to help you figure out your path. There is more than one way to success and by gaining different perspectives and then figuring out the unique way those perspectives fit your life, you are well on your way to becoming a quotable role model for others who will heed your words of wisdom.
I catch myself stating the phrase “You learn something new every day”. Instead of letting serendipity invigorate you by chance, take the reins and seek out adult education classes, recreation courses, meaningful conversations with inspiring people, fascinating books, or interesting Internet websites. Besides having fun and learning a new skill, you will meet the nicest people.
Discovery and knowledge keeps you young, interested, and interesting. Continuous improvement keeps you vibrant, vital, and tuned into the world as well as into yourself. Once your mind is stretched, it will never be the same. What have you learned today? It really is never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. Life long learning also implies that we learn our life lessons from the compilation of our experiences so we don’t waste our precious energy spinning our wheels and repeating life lessons over and over before we get it.
Once we recognize certain recurring themes in our lives as our life lessons, then we can spend our energy solving the issue and move on to other things instead of spending our energy on the same thing over and over again. Why not be a fast learner and save some of your emotional energy for new lessons down the road. What are the recurring circumstances in your life? What are the arguments, discussions, or power struggles that keep creeping up in your life? Are you learning from these so you can free up your energy to be put to better uses? Try seeking out some aha moments in the near future.
What Workers Adore and Abhor: Mentors and Tormentors
November 19, 2015 | Posted in Leading Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Mentors affect teams positively and tormentors infect teams. We can look at traits employees adore and abhor in their mentors and tormentors and what they can relate to themselves as they look into their leadership mirror to see how they come across to others. How do you rate on the Mentor/Tormentor scale? Are you adored or abhorred? What changes can you make today to move towards adored mentor status?
Leadership traits that people adore
- Has a clear vision of how people’s work meets the leader’s expectations.
- Provides timely, clear, constructive feedback.
- Expresses appreciation and gives credit where credit is due.
- Actively listens and answers questions.
- Treats others with respect and kindness.
- Consistently fair in their treatment of others.
- Trains, develops, and grows their people.
- Willing to jump in and help out when things become difficult.
- Has an open door policy and is available.
- Supportive and protective of their people when things go wrong.
Leadership traits that people abhor:
- Indecisive
- Foul-mouthed
- Plays favorites
- Doesn’t take time to learn about employees personally, treats them as cogs in the production wheel
- My way or highway thinking
- Takes credit for your work
- Doesn’t take action when needed, particularly for discipline problems
- Has clunky communication skills and low emotional intelligence
- Does not respect younger workers and their contribution
- Kisses up and kicks down
Obviously, this list is not comprehensive. There are many great and not-so-great leadership traits we could add. One of the primary skills of strong leaders is excellent communication. Every item on the list above is affected by communication style and emotional intelligence.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to improve your leadership skills and help you get the results you want:
How do you treat your people? To help answer this question, you might ask yourself, “How do my people treat me?” For example, if you are warm and friendly, your people will probably be warm and friendly in return. On the other hand, if you are cold and blunt or if your demeanor is unpredictable, your team will likely go to great lengths to avoid you. Be approachable and consistent in dealing with others and they will reciprocate. We are mirrors for how people treat us. If you notice that others are not treating you well, not saying hello and good-bye, then look inward to see if they are mirroring your demeanor.
Does your team understand how what they do contributes to the success of the organization? Don’t assume they know, even if the answer may be obvious to you. Recent research indicates that somewhere between 70% and 95% of people do not know how what they do contributes to their organization’s success. If most individuals lack this understanding and you haven’t conveyed it to them, then you are missing the opportunity to increase their motivation, and the likelihood that they will be as productive as they could be. Ask them if they know their impact on the organization’s success, listen to their response, and be prepared to fill in the gaps. According to Dan Pink in his book Drive; he states that motivation today relies on purpose, autonomy and mastery. If they don’t know their purpose, are not given the space to do it and to learn it, then you can be sure you’re a tormentor they abhor and they won’t be there for long. Do you express appreciation for a job well done to each person on your team at least once a week? Particularly with the new workforce, they expend on-demand feedback and may not wait around for it. The younger generations in and entering the workforce today are serial freelancers with the skills to get jobs at other places and won’t hesitate to jump ship and go out on their own. Make sure you are doing what you can to retain them and be their mentor they adore.
Success Leaves Breadcrumbs
February 7, 2012 | Posted in Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
Success is all around you and it isn’t happening in a vacuum. If you want a shortcut to success, follow the breadcrumbs of those who have been along the path. You can see the breadcrumb trail leading to others’ success and what may seem to be an overnight sensation; was really a result of many years of breadcrumbs leading up to one moment when you, or the world, became aware of the hard work and choices leading up to the point of awareness of success.
If you want to find success, follow the breadcrumbs of those who have been there and seek their guidance. Look for those in an industry where you have talent, passion, interest, and a burning desire to be successful. A path that is in true alignment with your purpose and essense. One that holds the ways and means of what your life’s work is meant to be. It doesn’t mean grunting it out in a profession just because your parents want you to do it, or because the experts said it was a current industry darling where you can make some money. Remember in the movie, The Graduate? Plastics was the answer. Nope, not plastics, your true essence and using your gifts and talents to serve the world is the answer.
You don’t have a money problem, you have an idea problem. To get more ideas along the right path; use a shortcut and ask for directions from an expert or successful person who has already travelled the path. Research role models, mentors and coaches who can show you the way and shadow somebody. It will take years off your learning curve and cost much less in the long run by avoiding bad decisions and rabbit holes. It will help you get unstuck with what you’re doing now or not doing to get to success.
Sometimes we get stuck by re-creating the same experience over and over by using the same limiting thoughts, maintaining the same beliefs and doing and thinking the same thing because that’s all we know. We need others who have already accomplished what we want to shake our thoughts loose and give us a new paradigm of possibilities. We need to replace our limiting beliefs and loosen our grip of what we “know” to be able to look outside our comfort zone and see what’s waiting for us just outside our zone of comfort. Find somebody who will shake loose those limiting beliefs. Take a good look at what you believe – are they based on truth or just because you’ve always done it or thought it, or that’s the way your parents taught you. I’ll give you a clue….your parents weren’t always right.
Find other role models and coaches who have studied and practiced success. Read about their breadcrumbs, contact them to buy some of their time and listen to what they share on their path to success. Find out what it takes and then start leaving some breadcrumbs of your own. Let me know how I can help you along your path to success and help get you unstuck with your limiting beliefs so you can enjoy a successful life you deserve.