What is the shortcut to success?

I recently spent time talking to students at a local college. I was interested to listen to their goals and objectives but was left a little flat after hearing their lack of vision or enthusiasm. Maybe I expected more because I was brought up in a generation of entrepreneurs and yuppies.
 
I asked one of the students what he was studying and he replied a course in computer studies. I felt encouraged that he was trying to better his life and tried to prompt further positive dialog. I questioned him on where he hope his studying would take him, what career did he hope to follow. His response left me deflated, he said “ just a job”.
 
I desperately wanted to help this vulnerable child to get some perspective and direction so it tried a visualisation technique with him. I suggested that he imagined what type of company he would like to work for, where they are based, what type of industry they cater for, how many people worked there, and what job he wanted to have. The next practical stage was to find the person already doing that job and asked them how they got there.
 
I’ve done a lot of walking and climbed many mountains. When you stand at the bottom and look at the top, it may seem almost impossible to know how to get to the pinnacle. When you are standing on the top looking down you can see every path to the summit.
 
By getting the student to talk to someone already doing the job they aspire to have, the experienced employee has already written the map. It creates a shortcut to success.  

http://www.changingoutcomes.co.uk/
http://www.mikebowden.uk

What are emotional goals?

We have all been ingrained to chase after goals, as this appears to be a measure of our success. Often we fail because we are chasing after the wrong things and feel let down by the process.  

How do you feel when you miss out?

Imagine your goal as if you were baking a cake. The plan is to go shopping for the ingredients, the strategy is how you blend them all together and delivery is putting the mixture into the oven. If you’ve managed to complete the process, “hurray” you have made a cake. But, you’ve merely created a result not a reward, which isn’t very inspiring, most motivated people can follow a similar process. Regardless of whether the cake turns out to be a technical success or a culinary failure, you have still achieved your aim to bake a cake.

So do you leave your results to chance and accept meritocracy or do you want to aspire to something that bigger than that? Think about your baking creation and how it makes you feel, the smell of the sweet ingredients, the perfect appearance of the fluffy masterpiece and the pride you feel when you know that it’s turned out really well. You can now understand “what’s in it for you” that feeling behind the task, the emotions that create a burning desire to excel.

Now focus on how others salivate over your masterpiece, rave over your achievements and aspire to bake a creation worthy to compete; now you are starting to create a legacy. You will be known as the person who encouraged them to cook and be remembered for how you make them feel when they have a baking success just like yours, that’s “what’s in it for them”.

In essence, a sterile process doesn’t drive behaviour whereas positive emotions do. By focusing on the emotional rewards rather than just the end result, you will turbo-charge your successes and receive a far greater level of satisfaction.

http://www.mikebowden.uk/

http://www.changingoutcomes.co.uk/

How to make today a good day

A successful business colleague of mine always had a smile on his face. He was relaxed and happy with a spring in his step. He walked with his head held high displaying quiet confidence. His aura was fantastic for a man in his late sixties. I asked him how he managed it. He said that he didn’t boast about his successes or cry about his losses, he just made sure every day was a good day.

Although he was never a man to stand out from the crowd, he was a genuinely nice guy that became very wealthy from his successes. He had such a confidence about him that he didn’t have to boast his achievements or broadcast his future plans, he took every day as it come and just enjoyed the moment.

I understood that I could get results I so desperately wanted right now, if I focused on “the now” rather than worrying about tomorrow. I couldn’t influence tomorrow when today wasn’t the best it could be. I needed to focus on, my experience of today, because this moment “NOW” is the only true experience I will ever have. I found that making today a good day, then tomorrow an even better day, then next week even better, was the formulate for achieving results that lasted.

I spent too much time trying to perfect my future when my present wasn’t as good as it needed to be. So try it for yourself, changing just one element in your day today and see the rippling effect that it will have tomorrow. Create the foundations everyday for a better day tomorrow, then the day after.

http://www.changingoutcomes.co.uk/

http://www.mikebowden.uk/

Lessons in life - How to talk to strangers

Is this it?

For many years I had asked myself one question, which I could never answer. It was three words and eight letters, so simple to ask but for me a nightmare to answer, the question was “Is this it?” I was never satisfied I always wanted more.

My character forced me to push forward my in life, striving to be the best version that I could be. I placed huge amounts of pressure on myself to succeed, often feeling frustrated and let down, when things weren’t progressing as quickly as I had hoped. Many times outside influences would create obstacles and hamper my progress. I never took time to reflect whether I was content with what I had and where I was going, I was living my life at 100mph and focusing on the Holy Grail. It wasn’t until I began to accept that nothing in life is totally satisfactory, that nothing in life is perfect and that nothing in life is permanent, that I started to gain clarity.

When I realised the only guarantee in life is “Change” I started to accept the way things were at that moment in time, nothing remains the same. There are so many outside forces that can knock you off track, that even if you don’t want to change your life, your life will get changed for you. Also, there are so many positive influences that can give you a lucky break when you least expect it.

I changed my own question from “Is this it?” to “Is this enough for now?” and took the pressure off myself. I realised that I was striving for a perfect me in an imperfect world. Even if I hadn’t achieved what I wanted to, there was always another day to get there. Although we can influence how our life turns out, we have to question how much ultimate control we have on our destiny and whether we choose to accept how things are at any particular time.

http://www.mikebowden.uk/

What makes you different?

I often meet business professionals from various industries and I’m fascinated to find out more about their company. Usually I prompt them with a leading question, “So what makes you different from your competitors?” in the hope of receiving an inspired and enthusiastic response. Many times I’m presented with a list of their services and they expect me to be impressed.

I’ve found a percentage of people truly believe their “Unique Selling Point” is way ahead of their competitors and if that is true I would be sorely disappointed  by the others following in their wake. What companies fail to recognise is the end users’ expectations and typically the trail blazers only match what the client expects. As a society we have become accepting of poor service as the norm and accept the excuses which are readily provided, as long as it’s cheap enough.

I recently spoke to a firm of solicitors who were proud of their personal service, their prompt responses and their success rate. When challenged “what makes them different” they were confident that they excelled in their industry, but as an end user I would expect these as a minimum starting point.

As a consumer we all end up choosing where to spend our hard earned cash, but our choices generally come down to a sterile process of who can supply a product or service “faster, better or cheaper” and we just accept all the shortfalls that go with the transaction. Usually these cost the company’s bottom line and often the suppler gets squeezed out of the market by decreasing profit margins because their ethos is money driven.

Surely the inspired companies that will win the business and stand the test of time are the ones that do genuinely exceed the customers’ expectations by adding value to the transaction rather than discounting their shortfalls. I believe that creating customer loyalty is never about money but more so about how you are different.

http://www.mikebowden.uk/

What we say is what we get

I believe that we tend to talk our way into a state of mind on a daily basis just by the language we use. We get sucked into our environment and start to absorb the tone of other people, whether it’s relevant to us or not. Associating ourselves with either positive or negative people will have an influence on our mind-set, but we don’t have to accept what is forced upon us, we can make a difference.

One thing that did have a huge impact on my life was to change the language I used. Rather than saying something was good, I changed to say it was great. Rather than saying my day was okay, I changed to say it was brilliant. Just by changing the emotive words to carry a stronger emotional attachment, made me believe that it was true. Because I engulfed myself in stronger more positive feelings my mood changed for the better.

Alternatively if you tell yourself that something is bad enough times you believe yourself. The subconscious part of the brain can’t rationalise language, it tends to believe what it is told and drives our behaviour accordingly. The conscious part of the brain allows logic, how we interpret and process facts, but it is also influenced by our feelings. Therefore by purposely using more positive words, you can lift your mood and your subconscious brain believes it to be true, creating better behaviours and responses.

Factually the situations going on around me hadn’t changed, but my perception towards what was happening had. My chores became challenges and life seemed a little brighter because I was in control of my language. When negative things happened, they never felt so bad and I could cope with them far better.

Try it the next time you speak to someone and they ask how your day is. Rather than saying that your day is okay, tell them with enthusiasm how brilliant it is and watch their reaction. Generally people will influence the behaviour of others around them, so the words you use can be the catalyst for something better for you and other people.

http://www.mikebowden.uk/