While nearly everyone has an opinion on what it takes to achieve success, there are very few proven formulas. Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM offers us this one: “Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking failure is the…
At the end of his book, I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This, comedian Bob Newhart shares his observations of people who have a sense of humor—the ability to appreciate and express the funny side of life. “I’ve noticed that people with a sense of humor tend to be less egocentric and more realistic in their view…
An article by Dorie Clark which appeared in entrepreneur.com featured a book titled, Broadcasting Happiness written by Michelle Gielan. The book describes a study where participants were divided into two groups. Each group watched a three-minute news video early in the morning. One group watched a video that contained negative stories while the other watched a…
Whenever I ask people how they are going to deal with a particular problem if it were ever to occur in the future, the response I often hear is, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” In other words, I’ll deal with that problem if it occurs, but I don’t want to be…
Whenever I ask people how they are going to deal with a particular problem if it were ever to occur in the future, the response I often hear is, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” In other words, I’ll deal with that problem if it occurs, but I don’t want to be…
Growth experiences—those forays into the difficult and unfamiliar—are often challenging and sometimes painful. This is why many people choose to avoid them—they prefer to stay within the friendly confines of their “comfort zone.” Successfully navigating these growth experiences is how we learn and how we strengthen our self-confidence. Once you have succeeded at something that…
I have a friend named Paul who has been in and out of the hospital numerous times during the past several years. When Paul returned home from his last trip to the hospital, he had no appetite and was eating very little. After a while, his daughter who is a nurse, became concerned that if…
Every now and then, you’ll come across someone who is struggling while trying to solve a problem that you already know how to solve. The temptation is to offer this person advice and thus put an end to his or her struggle—after all, offering a helping hand seems like the right thing to do. Well,…
We’ve all heard the expression, “Pride goes before the fall,” but what exactly does it mean? Prideful people are very taken with themselves in that they have an inordinately high opinion of their importance or worth. In other words, they have very large egos. The problem is that in addition to being large, these egos…
Someone posted the following quote on Facebook; “Kindness is the most tender and powerful way of leaving a memory inside people’s hearts.” People appreciate being on the receiving end of kind acts and they remember the people who perform them. For example, I always try to extend some form of kindness to people in retail…