Your Personal Gold Standard
Back in the old days, the US currency was backed by gold. When you gave someone a dollar that dollar was actually backed by gold in the treasury. If someone took paper money from you, they knew it was literally as good as gold.
I've recently been thinking about the Power of Words and what power do words really have? I've known many people skilled in using words to influence, persuade, and get people to take action. I've known many people who are able to make big and exciting promises. I've known many people who become addicted to making people feel good with their promises and their words. I've known far fewer who can do that and follow through on those promises.
Think about what would happen if someone gave you money and then when you went to spend it, you found out it was fake, that it wasn't really backed by Gold. It was really not worth anything at all. How long would you continue to accept money from that person? How long would you accept money at all?
Getting ready…
If you are like many people, in a week or so you'll be sitting down and writing out your New Years Resolutions. I will be doing something like that too. I like to prepare for that a couple of weeks in advance by considering a couple of questions so that when I sit down to contemplate the new year I've seeded the ground a bit. Here are four questions to ask yourself as you prepare:
QUESTION #1: What am I no longer willing to tolerate or compromise on in my life?
QUESTION #2: What are my basic core beliefs?
QUESTION #3: What specific things do I need to be doing for my behavior to be more aligned with what I truly believe.
QUESTION #4: What would I be willing to give up to have more of what I truly want?
I won't provide many examples because I don't want to limit how you might think about these questions, but Question #2 might require a bit of explanation. For this I try to think about things where my internal thoughts don't seem to match my external behavior. So I might really believe its important to serve in my community, but I never really do. Or do I really believe its important? I mean watching TV is pretty important to, right? Or I might believe that be truly successful at the level I want I'd need to eat a healthy diet, but I eat at McDonalds twice a day, or....what is it for you? And what does it take to begin doing more of what really matters?
Happy New Year!
Book Review – Aspire!
I have recently been introduced to the book Aspire! Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words by Kevin Hall. 
I love to be surprised and this book surprised me in many ways. There is so much in the personal development community that has become tired and re-hashed, but I found this book to be a breath of fresh air. I was originally very skeptical with the premise that understanding the origin of words could make any real difference in ones life, let alone help someone discover their purpose in life. In the past when I've heard people pontificate about the origin of a particular word it has sounded like an academic exercise only of interest to those who enjoy reading dictionaries in their spare time.
10 Power Mind Tips for Commuting
Making Commuting Fun
While an increasing number of people are working from home, most of us still spend significant amounts of time in our cars or the train or a bus going to and from a job, visiting clients, or if you are lucky just going back and forth to the bank to deposit your big checks.
Like we discussed in a recent post, those minutes can really add up. You might not be able to easily reduce the amount of time you spend in the car, but you can probably make better use of your time and arrive more relaxed, smarter, and more prepared for what comes next. So here are 10 tips for spending your commuting time wisely.
- Review the day from multiple perspectives. Don't just think about the day from one perspective, but think about a few key interactions you had (face-to-face, over the phone, or e-mail) and think about them from the perspective of each of the other people involved. Then imagine you are an objective 3rd party just watching the interaction and think about it from that perspective. This always has a way of adding some new perspective to the situation for me. And remember just because you think about it from their perspective doesn't mean you know what they are thinking...you probably aren't a mind reader yet, but at least you can see the situation from a perspective other than your own.
Building Rapport – Part 1
Defining rapport can be somewhat elusive, but most people have an experience of really connecting with another person. You just feel in sync with them. Maybe you finish each other sentences or know what they are going to do or say just before or as they are doing it. You can talk and carry on a conversation for hours and the time just flies past. Most people have experienced this at one time or another, but few people are able to generate rapport with everyone, on demand, whenever they want.
What is it that generates this kind of rapport between two people and do you have any choice of it being present, or is it just fated that some people will have rapport with one another and others won't?